'Awful but totally riveting': BBC Russian audiences react to Prigozhin’s mutiny
With the dust from the Wagner mutiny now beginning to settle, BBC Russian audiences share their thoughts and feelings about two days that shook Russia.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed mutiny fizzled out almost as suddenly as it began, leaving analysts divided over what it meant. We asked BBC Russian Service audiences to share their thoughts on what happened and what it meant for the future. More than a hundred people contacted the BBC. Although the stories they told us are all very different, many clear common threads have emerged. In order to summarise them we have grouped the letters by the keywords that came up. For safety reasons, we are not disclosing the full names of our respondents.
“Theatre”
The words “theatre,” “farce,” “circus” and “staged” crop up in many of the messages the BBC received. People told us they were overwhelmed by the “information chaos” of the first day of the mutiny, and many found the official version of events hard to believe.
O., Lobnya
“I reckon it’s a political farce. Both characters (Putin and Prigozhin) are great media manipulators. If there was a winner it was Lukashenka – he’s all fixed with new security forces. As far as I can see, the situation in Ukraine pretty much coincides with what Prigozhin says in his video messages (although I still can’t know exactly what it’s like) but all the same, I don’t know why they needed a mutiny. It was like some bandit showdown from the nineties, but on a bigger scale.”
A., Moscow
“The surreal (or theatrical) atmosphere didn’t leave all day, until evening – although the videos were real, the downed plane, the blown-up oil-depot in Voronezh, the grouping of soldiers by the Oka bridge, on our road.”
P., Yekaterinburg
“This so-called coup gave me the same impression as watching a bad piece of theatre: the actors, props, and scenery are real, but there’s no story, there’s nothing to perform. In a real mutiny they make demands, they don’t just send in “Lyapkin-Tyapkin.” [Reader compares Defence Minister Shoigu and Chief of Staff Gerasimov to a character from The Government Inspector, a satirical comedy by the famous Russian-Ukrainian novelist Nikolay Gogol.]
“Elites”
Many people told us they saw the mutiny has part of an elite power struggle, and said Putin’s influence would be weakened as members of the elite adjusted their positions in reaction to what had happened.
A., (left Russia for Kyiv at the beginning of the war.)
“After what happened in Russia last weekend, I was struck by two feelings. The first was a burning shame for the shabby spectacle, that masked a struggle between the elites, who seized power in the country where I was born. The mocking memes that emerged afterwards: “Happy Mutiny Day!” – reflect the level of contempt people there have for the ruling classes. And contempt breeds indifference. People have stopped trying. Every now and then they’ll spew out some proclamation, so that the sheep don’t get in their way whilst they share the power and the money for themselves. And when the farce is over, there’s no need to explain it to the people. They’re just a resource, they’re expendable. The axeman doesn’t take orders from the tree.
Secondly, what happened reinforced the stark difference in perspectives between Russians and Ukrainians. My loved ones in Russia were looking at what was happening and saying: Ooh, an uprising! Maybe the hell of this war will be over soon”. But for me - I felt as if something inside me has broken, and even though the mechanism is turning, there’s just no hope in sight.”
T., Chita
“The country froze in the anticipation of horror, on the threshold of a bloody civil war. But the outcomes of such a confrontation could only disappoint: it was a choice between the person who dragged the country into its current state, and the criminal who would lead Russia into even more “meat attacks” against Ukraine. The less likely scenario – a peaceful outcome – caused near-unanimous joy for the majority of the population, for the first time in the whole war. And such an outcome – though undoubtedly joyful – could have bad consequences. Previously, the elites, shadowy groups and other potential Russian leaders shied away from rebellion, fearing the power of the state. But now it’s clear that a few thousand armed people could destroy Putin’s regime. The realisation that seizing power could be as simple as bribing the head of the Moscow garrison is bound to rock the foundations of the Kremlin: the struggle between elites will flare up again. The possibility of a coup or civil war has increased – and is likely to peak by the end of the year.”
M.
“It wasn’t the mutiny that surprised me. The conflict between Prigozhin and the army was heading for a denouement of some kind. But the way it happened was puzzling. There’s a consensus that the element of surprise is crucial, if the attacking side seeks to gain power. They had the opportunity, but it wasn’t realised. And that forces you to think about the second and third layers of the plan. It’s very possible that Prigozhin is trying to score political points by positioning himself as a candidate for the next elections. He gained more than a few supporters, and has serious clout in terms of campaigning, the security forces and the media. He’s shown himself in a very favourable light by not escalating into armed conflict and avoiding civilian casualties.”
“News”
Many people described being glued to their phones following the news minute by minute, as they had done the day the invasion of Ukraine began. And one woman, reflected on how it felt to try and fail to make sense of what was happening by watching Russian state controlled television news reports.
E., Murom
“On Saturday morning I went to my parents’ to find everyone gathered around the TV, waiting for the President’s speech. We listened, and I asked question after question and was confused by everything. Putin named no names in his speech, but the news anchors who came on after him spoke about PMCs, and used the word “mutiny.” What’s happened? Prigozhin’s starting a mutiny, they said. I had more questions than there were answers. I didn’t understand exactly what he’d done, or why he’d done it. I was glued to the state channels all day, and they kept showing the same tank – which was, ironically, stuck outside the Rostov Circus – and footage of a forest path, allegedly the source of the mutiny. And so what? At long last I got my phone back from the repair shop and got back on Telegram and Instagram. Then I saw there was more than one tank in Rostov – a whole column of armoured vehicles was on its way to Moscow, roads were being dug up, a map was overlaid across the footage. That was when I realised the scale. And this was the only point where [the television] gave a reason for Prigozhin’s aggression “he is stabbing us in the back.” To sum up – if you only watch the state channels, as many pensioners do, nothing is uncertain, everything is fine, and it’s all the fault of a few petty traitors.”
M., Chelyabinsk
“At the weekend I refreshed the news as often as I did during the first days of the invasion of Ukraine – with different emotions, of course. There was more interest and curiosity, less frustration.”
E., Astana
“I heard the news about the "March of Justice” very late on the night of 23 June. I was surprised, but I thought this was just another scandal that wouldn’t spread beyond the Internet, so I went to bed. I didn’t check the news immediately after getting up, and I had a nice, slow breakfast. Then I clicked on YouTube – it all kicked off!
Watching the Wagner units head for the capital itself, from several directions, was awful, but totally riveting at the same time. For some reason, nobody seemed to able to stop them. It was unbelievable stuff. Almost as if we still sitting at home in March 2020 in self-isolation, watching the pandemic unfold and only half believing it was real.”
“Fear”
People told us they had been afraid it was the start of civil war. But at the same time they found it hard to believe anything could change. They said the mutiny wasn’t just scary for ordinary people who found themselves in the path of the tanks, but for officials and the President’s inner circle. And as the National Guard, the army and the riot police all melted into the background, it was the local council workers who stepped forward and tried to intervene by digging up roads to prevent the tank columns moving further.
I.L, Pittsburg, US
“My biggest fear when I woke up was that I was about to see the news of civil war. I knew the majority of people in Russia don’t support either the Russian army or the Wagner guys. So I was glad when I didn’t see any updates about armed clashes. I heard the news from a friend who lives in Voronezh. Then I got in touch with a friend in Moscow and asked her to describe her surroundings. Which did nothing to ease all the worries swirling round my head. I’m from Murmansk myself, and I’ve still got lots of friends there. We were just laughing about it all, sending memes back and forth, it all looked like a surreal circus from the outside.”
L., Voronezh
“By the time the column was almost in Voronezh, the “Z” crowd was split between people backing Putin, and people wanting a military coup. The fighting broke out near car dealerships and an old oil depot (where a helicopter was later shot down) and people started to panic. There were long queues at the gas station and traffic jams on the highway.
In my opinion, the fall of one shell in Voronezh and a few blown up bridges in Bogucharsk and Borisoglebsk were hardly decisive. All the same, it showed Putin’s helplessness against any internal threat. Damaging the road to delay the attackers was about all he could do.”
M., Novosibirisk
“The noticeable thing was the effectiveness of the services Putin has nurtured since he came to power. And we saw that the mainstay of the regime is civil administration, not security forces or propaganda. In 2022, the army and special services drifted into debt, whilst the government’s economic bloc bailed them out. And this weekend the army, the National Guard and the OMON were nowhere to be seen, the Kadyrovites were too scared to approach Rostov, propagandists were silent. Only the local governors showed loyalty to the President. Defiantly (although without any initiative) Putin’s real “infantry” – the public sector utility workers – began breaking up the roads.”
Read this story in Russian here.
Translated by Pippa Crawford.
English version edited by William Edelsten.
