Russia is a failed state. What did Putin, the State Duma and the propagandists do during the uprising

In Moscow, they pretend that "everything is calm in Baghdad", useless...

In the final weekly shows on federal TV channels, it is already explained to ordinary Russians that the "armed rebellion" of Prigozhin - the leader of the (already former?) PMK "Wagner" (which still exists?) was a "provocation of a foreign special service."
NTV propagandist Irada Zeynalova, following the narrative of Dmitry Kiselyov, the host of "Russia 1", repeated the thesis that "the threat to the country has disappeared", but she called for a "calm and systematic response" to the unforgivable betrayal.
At a time when the whole world was watching a Russian comedy from Prigozhin's tent, the tragedy caused by Putin's regime continued in Ukraine. The occupiers carried out massive shelling of Kiev, Dnieper, Kharkiv and Kremenchuk. A Russian rocket hit a 16-story residential building in the capital city of Solomyansk. There are dead and wounded. Children are among them.
These dire consequences of Putin's bloody adventure must be remembered. And they really cannot be forgiven, instead, calmly and systematically (including in the context of a counterattack) respond to them.

"Operation Western Special Services" was successful

As for the actual "backstabbing armed rebellion" (according to the Kremlin version) or "justice march" (according to the "Wagner version"), at first it all really looked like another Prigozhinian turmoil in the style of "Schrödinger's Cat": it is or not?
When it finally became clear that it was serious, real panic began in Russia. And it lasted a long time.
"Wagner's special operation to de-Shoygize Russia" was immediately transferred to the rank of "rebellion against Putin personally". And that only emphasizes the fragility of his so-called rigid power vertical. And it proves that Russia (and not Ukraine, as Putin tries to convince others) is a failed state.
Just one example. As early as seven in the morning on February 24, 2022 (despite massive rocket attacks on Kyiv, the threat of strikes on the government quarter and "strikes on decision-making centers"), the Verkhovna Rada met for an emergency meeting and voted a constitutional majority to introduce a state of emergency.
Exactly 16 months later, on June 24, 2023, on the second day of the actual occupation of the Russian regional center with a population of one million, the "center of direct decision-making" in the form of the headquarters of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, a practically unhindered march towards Moscow was made possible by illegal armed formations. The State Duma did not lift a finger. Putin's entire vertical of power was waiting. Leading propagandists were also in this regime. For example:

Even before the "rebellion", Vladimir Solovyov recorded a joint video with Prigozhin, in which he invited Russians to join the "Wagner" units and published their advertisements. During the rebellion, he deleted the post announcing the debate on the "Prigožin provocation" and replaced it with Youth Day.
Anton Krasovski, who once wrote: "Prigozhin is, of course, an incredibly handsome man! That's how a commander should behave!", he just whined "God, save our Russia!".
Zahar Prilepin, who supported Prigozhin, did not make any public statement, limiting himself to the publication of Ana Ahmatova's poem.
Margarita Simonjan, who literally admired Prigozhin's "politeness": "The most surprising thing is that he is an extremely polite person. And who brought us spring? That's right, kind people", - she did not make any public statement during those hours/days.
Instead, this is how "Western propaganda controlled by Washington" reacted.
"15 months ago, Putin's army was on the outskirts of Kiev. Now the Russian leader is trying with all his might to maintain control in Moscow", writes the Financial Times in an article entitled "Putin has created his worst nightmare".
The text mentions Putin's fears of "color revolutions" and notes: "Prigozhin's rebellion confirms how wrong the war in Ukraine is for the Kremlin."
The Wall Street Journal insists that "Putin has faced the most serious threat since he came to power in 2000."
The Guardian draws a similar conclusion: "Putin's presidency has never looked so weak."
Bloomberg believes that the "Wagner Rebellion" heralds Russia's defeat. Prigozhin will most likely lose, but all this is a clear sign that Russia is not winning in Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine looks more and more like the same adventure as this "march of justice".
Well, if we start from the new Russian narrative that "everything is calm in Baghdad, and the rebellion of Wagner's PMC is an operation of Western special services", then, in fact, it succeeded. Putin has never been so humiliated.

What did the "compliment from the boss" prove?

In Russia, the order is to pretend that this "Western operation", which led to another "Russian rebellion, pointless and merciless", managed to be suppressed in the Western way - through negotiations.
Which, they say, proved that "the main threat to Russia due to civil war has been avoided, it has passed the test of maturity, therefore its unity is unshakable."
The symbol of this "unity and maturity" was Prigozhin's pitiful smile in what was probably the last photo of his life published by the media.

What did we see? Tanks in the Rostov circus, the realization of the "bombing of Voronezh", downed planes and helicopters (in one day the armed forces of the Russian Federation lost more of them than during May in Ukraine), killed pilots (who were killed, according to Prigozhin, "our PPOshnik - a fool" ), frantically excavated-buried federal highways on the way to Moscow.
And finally, the fate of Russia (according to the official version) was decided by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is denied any subjectivity in the Russian Federation itself.
What does that indicate? About the complete failure of Putin's entire policy, who, under an invented pretext, is the first to start the so-called "special operation". Then, instead of admitting its failure, he starts a war - already with man-made disasters at the Kahovska HPP and nuclear threats, from dirty bombs to blowing up nuclear power plants.
At the same time, he arms Prigozhin's private prison army. When that private army revolted, another private army was thrown at it – that of Ramzan Kadyrov. It's a good thing that she, scared, prudently got "stuck in traffic" on the way to Rostov.
What did Putin want to achieve in this way - a new Russian-Chechen war, but on the streets of Rostov? After all, in this situation it is quite clear whose side the local residents would be on. And what it would ultimately lead to.
All this and much more is evidence that Putin was simply floating. One of his mistakes led to others.
Thus, the global failure on the foreign policy front turned into an internal political one for him. Putin, who until recently defied the US, today humiliatingly asks for negotiations with a gang of his own thugs.

What it proved:

- more or less prepared armed formations can easily occupy large Russian cities, and the power structures for defense - not those of the Russian people, but of Putin himself - will not succeed;
- Shoigu and Gerasimov (about whom the fight apparently started) never heroically led at least the platoon behind them in Rostov. (No matter how ridiculous it may seem, but at least like General Lapin in the Belgorod region);
- They also demonstratively did not resign, at least for the declarative "preservation of the unity of Russia";
- the reaction among Putin's other elites (which manifested itself in the escape from Moscow on their own planes) was also frankly panicky;
- Putin's less affluent electorate frantically bought plane tickets to other countries, which they are still allowed to enter;
- those least affluent or usually quiet. Everything was ordered to be considered a "western special operation";
- but here too it was too late: the criminal proceedings against Prigogine were only started in the morning, and were already closed in the evening. All for the sake of phantom stability;
- a very sobering moment: almost all dissidents - "good Russians" spoke against Prigozhin's rebellion and supported the unity of Russia, even if it was still under Putin's rule.
Thus, in just two days, the actual desacralization of Putin took place. And this is a vivid summary of his 16-month "de-Ukrainization of Ukraine".

Putin's brigades flee Severodonetsk

And the fact that Putin, in addition to the obvious sycophants, will screw things up (but among "his own") is quite obvious.
What's next? The narrative "Nothing happened in Russia on June 24, 2023" will be promoted in public, with the chorus "the special military operation is going according to plan, and the liberated territories are looking forward to the arrival of Russia".
The June 25 thesis that "a strong and great Russia stands behind Severodonetsk" against the background of Prigozhin's armored vehicles, which did not meet resistance several hundred kilometers from Moscow, looks like a sincere joke. But it is commanded to believe.
For example, the sobering fact is that Severodonetsk (once a growing student town), which now lies in a heap of ruins, where 80 percent of the buildings have been destroyed or damaged.
The fact that citizens are denied access to mobile communications and the Internet speaks volumes about the survival in the remains of the city. People who try to call their relatives are sent to the "basement".
Electricity, gas and water supplies were cut off in the city. At the same time, people are handed Russian bills for housing and communal services. And for some reason since February 2022, when the city was not occupied.
Moscow declared Severodonetsk a "window for recovery". The Perm region is responsible for that. But all the brigades from the Russian Federation, which were brought to Severodonetsk for demonstrative repairs, have already left the destroyed city. And that is the whole symbolism of Putin's Russia.
June 25 marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of writer George Orwell, who predicted Putin's schizo-fascism. In his novel "1984" he wrote: "This war is fake, so it must continue without victory. Its main goal is to preserve the existing order, destroying not only human lives, but also the fruits of human labor, since the general increase in prosperity threatens the destruction of hierarchical society. War and famine help to paralyze people from poverty in a world of illusions”.
Tank Prigozhin in the Russian state circus clearly proved all the lies and fragility of Putin's illusions. And not on the "new territories", but even on the old, Russian ones.
It is the business of the whole civilized world to crush this spike on its feet of clay.

Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security