The events that took place in Russia on June 24 surprised everyone. This was expressed by the head of the Youth Policy Committee Artem Metelev.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the very beginning that at a difficult time when our men are at the front, no one expected that the same men with whom we shared successes, victories and defeats would suddenly start a military revolt. In a sense, they surprised everyone because it was impossible to expect that from them. This can be expected from the Ukrainian Armed Forces or mercenaries, but certainly not from the Wagner PMC. But it did, and thank God it ended with very little bloodshed. “A few people have died and that’s a loss, but it could be much worse.”
According to him, in this situation, the Wagner fighters, above all, betrayed the fighters who were on the front during the SVO and were waiting for their support, not a domestic showdown, but a betrayal.
“It was necessary to negotiate here. Yevgeny Prigozhin said in his last message that this is a kind of performance, an indicator of his conditions. But this show cost the country dearly in terms of nerves and tension. Society that day was really in great tension because no one understood whether it was a joke or not, ”Metelev said.
He remembered that Prigozhin himself had declared that he did not plan to seize any power. “So it was kind of a show. In my opinion, that’s not how things are done. “If there are difficulties in communicating with the Ministry of Defense, instead of resorting to an internal military revolt, it will be possible to use other levers, forces, partners that can help to negotiate and find common terms,” he said.
Metelev emphasized that no political, public or statesman supported Prigogine. At the same time, according to him, the society gathered.
“Everybody was in a very tense atmosphere and in this situation we have a leader that we want to rally around. This has happened in various difficult times because people trust Putin. The head of state made an appeal from the very beginning, he quickly summarized the position, he is in constant contact with the security services, this situation is under control. kept it,” he said.
He believes this should be a lesson for the whole country and organizational implications for the safety of the facilities and for anyone else to repeat it.