granice: Wagner Group rebellion

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

On 23 June 2023, the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, staged an uprising against the Russian government. It marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Ministry of Defense conflict, which had begun about six months earlier. Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had been leading Wagner Group activities in Ukraine, stood down after reaching an agreement a day later. Amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin had come to publicly express his resentment towards Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov; he frequently blamed both men for Russia's military inadequacies, especially during the Wagner-led battle of Bakhmut, and accused them…

Evidence: 40 • authority: 92

Gender systems in the Putin autocracy.. Over the last 23 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin's autocracy has revealed a set of interlocking gender systems that have come to the fore particularly vividly since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. How, this article asks, have the masculinist cultural and political practices of the Putin regime undermined democratic practices and engagement broadly speaking? How have they organized Russian state and society in ways that have led to today's war in Ukraine with its massive destruction, violence, and brutality? And have there been earlier signals that should have warned observers that this regime might undertake such a war…

Evidence: 39 • authority: 72

Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader, rebel commander, and oligarch. He led the Wagner Group, a private military company, and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until he launched a one-day rebellion in June 2023 and died in a plane crash two months later. Prigozhin was sometimes referred to as "Putin's chef" because he owned restaurants and catering businesses that provided services to the Kremlin. Once a convict in the Soviet Union, Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies whose operations, according to a 2020 investigation, were "tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligen…

Evidence: 33 • authority: 72

The political career of Vladimir Putin concerns the career of Vladimir Putin in politics, including his current tenure as President of Russia. Putin's career has evolved from early administrative roles in Saint Petersburg to national security leadership and long-standing presidency. His political rise began in the Saint Petersburg City Administration (1990–1997), where in May 1990 he was appointed as an advisor on international affairs to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Shortly thereafter, in June 1991, he became the head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor’s Office, overseeing the promotion of international ties, foreign investment, and the registration of business…

Evidence: 28 • authority: 72

Since 1999, Vladimir Putin has continuously served as either president (acting president from 1999 to 2000; two terms 2000–2008, three terms 2012–present) or Prime Minister of Russia (three months in 1999, full term 2008–2012). Putin has been described as the de facto leader of Russia since 1999. During his presidency, he has been a member of the Unity party and the United Russia party. He is also affiliated with the People's Front, a group of supporters that Putin organized in 2011 to help improve the public's perception of United Russia. His political ideology, priorities and policies are sometimes referred to as Putinism. Putin has enjoyed high domestic approval ratings throughout the ma…

Evidence: 28 • authority: 72

Opposition to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, commonly referred to as the Russian opposition, can be divided between the parliamentary opposition parties in the State Duma and the various non-systemic opposition organizations. While the former are largely viewed as being more or less loyal to the government and Putin, the latter oppose the government and are mostly unrepresented in government bodies. According to Russian NGO Levada Center, about 15% of the Russian population disapproved of Putin at the beginning of 2023. The opposition to Putin's political views is also called anti-Putinism. The "systemic opposition" is mainly composed of the Liberal Democratic Party o…

Evidence: 28 • authority: 72

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. He has been described as the de facto leader of Russia since 1999. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, Putin moved to Moscow to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He briefly served as the director…

Evidence: 22 • authority: 80

Regardless of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s fate, Vladimir Putin benefits

Evidence: 22 • authority: 80

Putin under pressure: the military melodrama between the Wagner group and Russia’s armed forces

Evidence: — • authority: 72

From September 2015 until December 2024, Russia conducted a military intervention in the Syrian civil war, following a request by Ba'athist Syria under Bashar al-Assad for support against the Syrian opposition and Islamic State (IS). The Russian Armed Forces' first conflict beyond the former Soviet Union since its dissolution; analysts pointed to strategic aims including limiting United States influence in the Middle East, access to the Eastern Mediterranean, and military capacity for other theaters of the Middle East, such as the Red Sea and Libya. Pre-intervention, government forces controlled 26% of Syria. Russian involvement had included diplomatic support for Assad and billions of US d…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Vladimir Putin's use of language, characterized by a straightforward style abundant in colloquialisms, greatly contributes to the president's popularity in Russia. The most notable feature of it are "putinisms", quotes and excerpts from Putin's speeches, many of which are catchphrases and aphorisms well known in Russia, but which often baffled interpreters.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Wagner Group (Russian: Частная военная компания «Вагнер», romanized: Chastnaya Voennaya Kompaniya "Vagner"), officially known as PMC Wagner (ЧВК «Вагнер», ChVK "Vagner"), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) that was controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin, and since then by Pavel Prigozhin. The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces. Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions. The group emerged during the…