Возможна ли гражданская война в России?

Putin's private military rebelled against him.

Translated in English: Could A Civil War Happen In Russia? 

The Chef is cooking up a civil war.

There is unconfirmed reports that the dictator may have fled Moscow.

World leaders are watching a possible global conflict happening in the Russian Federation. The mercenary group that aligned itself with the Russian military has now called for forcible removal of military leaders and it could be a coup d'etat.

Russian president Vladimir Putin confirmed that the Группа Вагнера [The Wagner Group] has seized the city of Rostov-on-Don about 720 miles from Moscow. It is where the Russian military operations are located.

Unconfirmed reports that the military forces were seized and many Russian troops are either surrendering or defecting to the Wagner Group.

The dictator is calling for an immediate halt to this treasonous act and vows to arrest the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman, oligarch and military commander who was once close to the Putin regime. After 5,000 of the Wagner mercenaries were killed by the Ukrainian military, Prigozhin warned Russian Defense that they better provide more weapons or else.

I guess the sanctions and pressure campaigns by western leaders lead to Russia running out of military weapons.

While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort as Kyiv’s forces were probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. The dispute, especially if Prigozhin were to succeed, also could have repercussions for President Vladimir Putin and his ability to maintain a united front.

Warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin is planning on deposing his former ally Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, saying they faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”

“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said in one of a series of angry video and audio recordings posted on social media beginning late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

He claimed that the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, scrambled warplanes to strike Wagner’s convoys, which were driving alongside ordinary vehicles. Prigozhin also said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation.

And despite Prigozhin’s statements that Wagner convoys had entered Rostov-on-Don, there was no confirmation of that yet on Russian social networks. Video posted online showed armored vehicles, including tanks, stationed on the streets and troops moving into position, but it was unclear whether they were under Wagner or military command. Earlier, heavy trucks were seen blocking highways leading into the city and long convoys of National Guard trucks were seen on a road.

The governor of the Voronezh region, just to the north, told residents that a column of military vehicles was moving along the main highway and advised them to stay off the road.

Prigozhin said Wagner field camps in Ukraine were struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from Gerasimov following a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which they decided to destroy Wagner.

The Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition.

Prigozhin, who said he had 25,000 troops under his command, said his troops would punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services, or FSB, charged him with calling for an armed rebellion, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The FSB urged Wagner’s contract soldiers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting armed conflict.