Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - Military Coup In Russia, Putin Responds

Episode Date: June 24, 2023

Saagar breaks down the military coup ongoing in RussiaTo become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hello, everybody. It has been a stunning 24 hours or so with respect to Russia and Ukraine. It's about 7 a.m. here on the East Coast. I'm going to break down for everybody of what we know. Here's the headline. The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Brigozin, is currently in control of at least some part of the city of Rostov-on-Don in Russia after launching what is apparently a military coup against Vladimir Putin and his leadership, Rostov-on-Don. We've talked about it actually here before. Huge logistical hub for the Russian war in Ukraine. Let's back up. How did we get here to this genuinely stunning and crazy

development? So, Prigozhin, some of you probably will know him. He was the Russian mercenary warrior head of the Wagner Group. He actually took credit for the Russian victory in Bakhmut. He's been probably one of the most serious fighters that's currently in the conflict, and he has always been a major and fierce critic of the chief of the Russian armed forces and of the Russian defense minister. His criticism has mainly been that the Wagner group has not received enough ammunition from the Russians, not enough support, that the Russian military is just throwing troops into the meat grinder without any concern for their welfare.

He's emerged as a major defender for Russian troop welfare inside of Ukraine. Well, after he got the city of Baku and he has this victory, he's actually gained stature in the Russian public. About 24 hours ago, he put out a video which stunned absolutely all of us, where he blasted the war in Ukraine, said that it was launched under false pretenses. He said that Russian oligarchs had gotten greedy after plundering the Donbass region, which was already in an active conflict zone, and that they just wanted to pillage even more of Ukraine. He even said that the war itself, the basis was complete BS. Russia was not in danger at the time of the invasion. So obviously that was basically a red line and chaos ensued. So he demanded the resignation of the defense minister and then the chief of the Russian armed forces. Now in the middle of the night, Moscow time is when this is all going down.

So the immediate sign that the Russian authorities were absolutely not going to let this stand is that the FSB, the main security agency, the successor to the KGB, opened a criminal investigation against him for, quote, armed mutiny. So that's it. That's like a cross the Rubicon moment because you're a wanted man. You're not going to emerge from this unscathed. So at this point, things get even crazier. He starts posting all these voice memos on Telegram saying he's on

his way to Rostov not to go after him. He claims he's been attacked. He claims that they had bombed him. Nobody knows if any of this is true. Right. But then right in the middle of daylight, we wake up and we can actually see Wagner and Pergozin not only are in control, at least of some parts of the city, but are even storming or not storming that means like, at the very least, this is a stunningly successful in its own right, just because he's now gained control of a key part of a major logistical hub. Okay. So then what happens? Because now we're at, you know, pretty crazy event. Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Russian nation. He gives a full six minute address. He denounces Ferguson. He denounces the mutiny. He calls on everybody to lay down their arms. He compares the rebellion currently to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

and says that the Wagner Group's efforts are just like that separate peace agreement that Lenin pursued, which humiliated Russia in World War I. The most important line from the full-scale, basically, Declaration of War against the Wagner Group is this quote. Any internal mutiny is a deadly threat to our state, to us as a nation.

It is a strike against our nation, our people. Our actions to defend the fatherland from such a threat will be brutal. Okay, so like I said, it's around 7 a.m. So here's what we know. This is all that's really been confirmed so far. There are videos coming out of Russia every which way. They show a Wagner column of troops and of equipment trying to make its way towards Moscow amongst one of the major roads. A decent portion of the way it has made there so far. Not the majority, like some parts of it. We don't actually know the progress. We know that there are videos coming out right now of helicopters being shot down or shot at, bombs being dropped

on the convoy, total chaos inside of Russia. I mean, you know, to be clear, we don't know where this is all going to end up. We don't know if they're going to make it to Russia. People in Moscow are kind of freaking out. There's some security services. The Kremlin says Putin is in the Kremlin and he's working in his office, whatever that means. So, look, some analysis, just top line. Here's what I think. Massive humiliation for Putin. You know, he praised Wagner as recently as three weeks ago.

He's given out medals to these guys. And now they're mounting a full-scale coup against him. And, you know, they're not listening to him. They're going after his war effort. You know, right now, I mean, this group is only 25,000 people. They're waltzing into a city of 1 million, effectively, basically undefended, and are at the very least advanced a couple hundred miles into Russia with no resistance. I mean, with no resistance in that advance, you can say, like, at the very least, the minuscule lack of defense is the Russian troops in that area.

They either didn't care or they were sympathetic and both are a total disaster for command and control of Putin. Now, what does this mean for Ukraine? That is probably the most interesting question right now, because we could put it a couple of different ways. Obviously, Zelensky and the army, you know, they put out messages saying they're celebrating. They're in the middle of their own counteroffensive. We saw, though, some strikes against Kiev last night. So it's not like the air war has stopped and, you know, some Russian resistance is still there on the front line. But, you know, when your literal logistics hub for the war is occupied by someone mounting a coup against you, that's bad. So there

is no question this is going to affect the Russian war effort. We just have no idea how much yet. Right now, the Ukrainians themselves seem to be in a wait and see mode and, you know, see what happens. As for Putin, I mean, I don't know how he emerges unscathed from this. And I don't mean that he's going to be deposed. But this is a humiliation of the highest level on a national scale. I mean, this is an armed mutiny against him, which is challenging his legitimacy as the strong man of Russia. Like when you need to bomb your own cities and your infrastructure to maintain control, you're not strong. And if he does, even if he does make it out of this, he's going to make it a lot weaker. And you know, that's not necessarily good news either, just so you know, because even if he does survive, there will be a lot of bloodshed.

And the military has shown, obviously, no qualms with killing innocent civilians. A lot of people could die in some sort of armed standoff between the two. And at the current moment, it really does seem like either Prokosian or Putin has got to die as a result of this. I don't see how it can get resolved. This could all turn very ugly. Then the question of what the hell is Putin going to do? Let's say the thing is really successful and they make it to Moscow.

What if people start turning on Putin? What is he going to do? He has total command and control of the Russian nuclear arsenal of, don't forget the Russian nuclear doctrine basically says he's the one who gets to decide whenever they launch and what they do. So there's huge uncertainty. What will Putin do if he's back against the wall? Will he escalate the war in Ukraine? You wouldn't be completely outside of their own possibility,

although logistically, obviously, it's going to be a challenge. We don't know what he's going to do. How is he going to be able to keep power at this point? Who will the oligarchs side with? Should note that most of the power centers inside of Russia have come out and backed Putin. Kadyrov in Chechnya has come out and issued statements of support. Others have all, you know, oligarchs and leaders have all come out and denounced the coup. But, you know, you can denounce the coup, but are you really going to work that hard against it? You know, that's the real question. Are we about to see an open, massive civil war inside of Russia?

One of the most stunning images I saw was actually people, Wagner guys inside of Rostov, laying on the ground, you know, in the middle of the city, pointing guns at the Russian military. They had duct tape, you know, around their arms to distinguish themselves. And it's just like a scene out of the 1917 to 1919 rebellion in civil war inside of Russia of, you know, the whites and the reds against each other. You have tens of thousands of people died in that conflict. So it's just stunning to be able to see this all in real time. So look, that's pretty much what we know right now. We can come back. We'll update everyone if anything else really big happens. Encourage everybody to maintain and just pay attention to really like what is going on.

You know, before I sign off, I'm just making sure that nothing else major significant has happened, that we wanted to update everyone. But I think that's a pretty good background as to the current coup inside of Russia, as to kind of how it started, where the main contours of where things are going, and what possible end games and all of that will look like. So all of us wait and see mode,

but no question, we're absolutely witnessing history right now. It's an absolutely stunning development. And just a thank you to all the premium subscribers. They enable our ability to put these kind of snap videos out there and keep everybody updated and informed all of our premiums

all across the nation and the world. So BreakingPoints.com if you're able to help us out. But otherwise, I think I'll sign off for now and I'll continue to keep everybody updated if needed. Camp Shane, one of America's longest running weight loss camps for kids, promised extraordinary results. But there were some dark truths behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children. Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie. Enter Camp Shame, an eight-part series examining the rise and fall of Camp Shane and the culture that fueled its decades-long success. You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week

early and totally ad-free on iHeart True Crime Plus. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today. Have you ever thought about going voiceover? I'm Hope Woodard, a comedian, creator, and seeker of male validation. I'm also the girl behind Boy Sober, the movement that exploded in 2024. You might hear that term and think it's about celibacy, but to me, Boy Sober is about understanding yourself

outside of sex and relationships. It's flexible, it's customizable, and it's a personal process. Singleness is not a waiting room. You are actually at the party right now. Let me hear it. Listen to VoiceOver on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

DNA test proves he is not the father. Now I'm taking the inheritance. Wait a minute, John. Who's not the father? Well, Sam, luckily it's your not the father week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This author writes, my father-in-law is trying to steal the family fortune worth millions from my son, even though it was promised to us.

He's trying to give it to his irresponsible son, but I have DNA proof that could get the money back. Hold up. They could lose their family and millions of dollars? Yep. Find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.