Judging Freedom - Civil War in Russia_ Wagner Troops Rebellion - SCOTT RITTER

Episode Date: June 24, 2023

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Thank you for watching. Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Welcome to a special Saturday edition of our show. It's 10 o'clock in the morning here on the east coast of the United States. Scott Ritter will be with us in just a moment over the tumultuous events going on inside Russia. Is Yevgeny Prigozhin attempting a coup against President Putin? Can the Wagner Group, however you pronounce it, actually take over the government? What are they trying to accomplish? Right after this. You want to feel safe in your vehicle. And for you, that means easy, rapid access to your firearm.

But safety also means your items don't fall into the wrong hands. You don't have to choose between safety and convenience. The headrest safe keeps your firearm where you can access it and no one else can. Just order your headrest safe, install it yourself when it arrives, and enjoy peace of mind. It starts at theheadrestsafe.com. Scott, thank you for your time on a Saturday morning and for all your expertise on this troubling matter which seems to be unfolding right before our eyes. I want to start by playing for you a clip that's only a few minutes old from Sky News, and the reporter citing Reuters sources and with some film shows Wagner troops in the city of Rostov, and then about two-thirds of the way through this report,

which is just about a minute long, says that Russian troops have set up a machine gun nest in Moscow. So take a listen and then your analysis. New footage that we've just received in the early hours of this morning, Yevgeny Bogoshin, Wagner's leader, moved troops into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. These are new pictures of his troops moving into the city. We understand he claims to have taken control of key military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, that city in the south of Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border and where the Russian military operation is being run from. These pictures are just coming into us at Sky News. Also hearing from the Reuters news agency that Russian soldiers have been setting up

a machine gun position on the southwest edge of Moscow. This is according to photographs published by the Vyodov-Mosti newspaper. Photographs on local media also showing armed police gathering at the point where the M4 highway is heading towards Moscow and where the Wagner mercenaries are moving along in a convoys. Okay, so giving that some credence, what's your take on what's happening in Russia as we speak? Well, first of all, this is a very serious turn of events. Yevgeny Primakov, who is the public face of the Wagner private military contract group who has achieved some prominence as a capable combat unit given their performance in Bakhmut the bloody battle the so-called meat

grinder that killed 75 000 Ukrainian soldiers at the cost of 30,000 Wagner lives. It appears that he has turned his forces on Russia, on the Russian government, on Vladimir Putin himself, ostensibly done to target Shoigu, the defense minister, and Gerasimov, the head of the Russian general staff, two people that Prigozhin has had a very vocal and public feud with for many months now. He claimed initially that he wasn't targeting the president, that he was simply doing his patriotic duty to seek the removal of these two corrupt and ineffective people. But Vladimir Putin gave a speech earlier today where he made it clear that what he felt about what Prokofiev and Wagner were doing,

he called them traitors. And after that speech, Prokofiev turned his sights on Putin. So let's be clear, this is an armed insurrection, a coup d'etat being orchestrated by Yevgeny Progozhin using the combat forces of a private military contractor to forcibly remove the constitutionally mandated and instituted government of Russia. I will say this, that the events have gone far beyond what Sky News is reporting. Wagner troops have pushed through the city of Voronezh and are heading towards Moscow. They're being actively engaged by Russian air. Helicopters are destroying Wagner vehicles on the highway.

This isn't a machine gun nest that's being established out of Moscow. Thousands, tens of thousands of troops are being assembled, including heavy armor, artillery. And Putin has basically said, take the gloves off, put this thing down and put it down now. The Chechen forces, the Ahmad special forces are being sent to Rostov right now. This is not a situation that's going to last very long. It will be violently suppressed or at least attempted to be. Wagner made certain assumptions. Prgozhin made certain assumptions. So what a lot of people

didn't know is that two days ago, prior to this, the Ukrainian intelligence service, they had a series of covert cells that were being positioned in Moscow were uncovered by the FSB, Russian security, and rounded up. It appears that these cells were supposed to be in place in Moscow so that as Prigozhin began to move towards Moscow, they would carry out a series of attacks, explosions, terrorist events that would terrorize the Russian people, reinforce the notion that Putin was an ineffective leader, and therefore the people of Moscow would welcome Wagner with open arms this is a concerted effort between Wagner Ukrainian intelligence service and their Western sponsors in particular the British to achieve uh what they've always been looking for which is what

they call a Moscow Maidan movement. We've discussed this. The only way Ukraine could possibly win this war is if Russia implodes. And having been defeated on the battlefield, we see that, you know, kudos to them. They recruited Prokofiev. There's no doubt my nine that Yevgeny Prokofiev is working on behalf of foreign intelligence services, carrying out their tasks. And that task is to collapse the government of Vladimir Putin. I personally believe that he won't succeed, but that's what's happening this morning.

Are among those foreign intelligence services, the CIA? Of course, the CIA is there, but I think the lead agency here is the British intelligence, if for no other reason that it, look, we have to confront the fact that Joe Biden is not fully there right now. And to carry out something like this, the CIA would need presidential findings that would have to be articulated to Congress. And I don't think our commander in chief is positioned to do that. So the CIA, I believe, is providing a supporting role to the British who have taken the lead on this because their system is a little bit more competent. Before we get to what President Putin said last night, at the same time that this is happening, the president of Belarus fled the country. Is there also a Wagner instigated or CIA

supported or both coup going on there? Well, first of all, the president of Belarus has not fled the country. That's fake information. There's also information that Putin has fled Moscow, running to St. Petersburg. That's fake information as well. Look, what we have right now, in addition to what Wagner is doing, which is very real, we have an information war being played right now. And social media has been hijacked by pro-Ukrainian, pro-British, pro-CIA channels who right now are in the business of putting out rumor, putting out speculation, creating chaos and an in particular the Russian population. The idea is to create the perception of a government in collapse. We have to treat almost everything we hear on social media with a heavy grain of salt. Understood. Would it be reasonable to conclude that Putin knew about this ahead of time? I mean, Russian intelligence is pretty effective, is it not?

I would not be surprised that Putin was briefed on the possibility of this. One of the problems that exists today is that this is a problem of, in many ways, Putin's own creation. Well, the conflict between Prokhorin and Shoigu has been bubbling up for months now. If you remember back when Prokosian was talking about they were denying me artillery shells. We had that discussion. We don't have enough artillery shells. It's Shoigu's fault. The corruption of Shoigu denying me artillery shells.

Now, some people said, well, that was just a PSYOP, a psychological operation designed to suck the Ukrainians in. And Prokosian later came out and said, yeah, that was just a psyop, a psychological operation designed to suck Ukrainians in. And Prokosian later came out and said, yeah, it was just a psyop. I was making this stuff up. But the people I talked to while I was in Russia said, no, man, this is real. This is a problem. While I was in Russia, Putin had to call Shoigu and Prokosian into his office and read them the Riot Act and tell them to knock it off. Stop this. Ce cease and desist. But in a reflection of perhaps the legitimacy of Prokosian's position, he told Shoigu to take a

back seat and appointed General Serovakin to be General Armageddon, to be the principal point of contact. This legitimized Prokosian's position. It gave credence to the notion that Shoigu is the problem, not Progozhin. How well respected in the political, international, diplomatic, and military community, mouthful, is Shoigu, the defense minister? Is he a political hack or is he a serious manager of defense forces? Well, he's not a military expert. He's a management expert. Look, Shoigu's been loyal to Putin from day one. He and Putin have been colleagues and compatriots since Putin became president. So there's a significant history there. And as you know, in politics, that kind of comfort breeds confidence. Shoigu helped create something called the Ministry of Emergency Response in Russia. And this ministry has succeeded beyond anybody's wildest expectations.

So the idea that he's a hack is absurd in the extreme. He's somebody who has created something, made it work. Now, the problem is Russia's at war right now and Shoigu's not a military man with combat experience. And there are many people who take advantage of this, who criticize him, sometimes with justification for his lack of military knowledge. People such as Progozhin, who, by the way, has no military experience whatsoever, but he capitalizes on the fact that Wagner is a highly competent unit that has a council of commanders who are some of the most experienced military experts in Russia who do the fighting, do the winning, and then Prokofiev takes credit. Here's Prokofiev on May 5th. Now, this is that furious, over-the-top furious complaint that he made where he purports to point over his shoulder at what he said are dead

Wagner fighters, and the reason they're dead is because Shoigu wouldn't give Wagner the ammunition they need. Here we go. Now, listen to me, you effing bees and those bastards who are not giving us any effing ammunition. We'll be in hell munching on their whatever. We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. Shoigu, Gerasimov. Where the blank is the ammunition? Where is it? This is that fury that he announced.

Now, here he is в Ростове. подается наверх. А то, что подается, это в 10 раз меньше, чем говорят по телевизору. Санитарные потери в день составляют не в среди до тысячи человек. Это убитые, без вести пропавшие, раненые и так называемые отбивники, которые отказываются не потому, что они струсили, я уже говорил, а потому что у них вышеда нет, боеприпасов нет, управления нет. Начальник генерального штаба бежал отсюда, как только узнал о том, что мы подходим к зданию. statement um first of all you know i can't first of all i have no way of double checking what he claims is access to documents and he's saying but he didn't provide the documents so let's realize that if he had the documents why aren't they published what we do know is he made other statements where he's very specific about where the ukrainians have broken through where they

had advanced. And in the aftermath of this, Russian soldiers who were fighting there have put out their own videos saying, hey, Prokosin, we're here. It's quiet. There's no Ukrainians. So Prokosin right now is literally reading from a script prepared by the Ukrainians. These are Ukrainian talking points. These are the same points that the CIA MI6 have been making, making one of Russian incompetence. If you look at the front line right now, there is no talk about a Ukrainian breakthrough. Every Russian unit is saying, we're in control, we're in charge, we're winning. Okay, we're going to take a break for about 30 seconds. When we come back, we'll hear what President Putin had to say last night when he addressed the nation.

And Scott will analyze that. And we'll also ask a few more questions about Wagner. Who are they? Where do they come from? What do they want? Are they Russians? And how many of them are there? All that right after this.

You want to feel safe in your vehicle. And for you, that means easy, rapid access to your firearm. But safety also means your items don't fall into the wrong hands. You don't have to choose between safety and convenience. The Headrest Safe keeps your firearm where you can access it and no one else can. Just order your Headrest Safe, install it yourself when it arrives, and enjoy peace of mind. It starts at theheadrestsafe.com. Let's play, well, welcome back, of course, let's play a clip from President Putin's five-minute address to the Russian people on Friday evening. Сегодня еще раз ночью говорил с командующими всех управлений.

Обращаюсь и к тем, кого обманом или угрозами втянули в преступную авантюру, столкнули на путь тяжкого преступления, вооруженного мятежем. Россия сегодня ведет тяжелейшую борьбу за свое будущее, отражает агрессию неонацистов и их хозяев. Против нас направлена фактически вся военная, экономическая, информационная машина Запада. Любые распри, которыми могут воспользоваться и пользуются наши внешние враги, чтобы подорвать нас изнутри. И потому действия, которые раскалывают наше единство, это по сути отступничество от своего народа, от боевых товарищей, которые сражаются сейчас на фронте.

Это удар в спину нашей стране и нашему народу. Все, кто сознательно встал на путь предательства, кто готовил вооруж Vladimir Putin serious before, but he's never been confronted with an armed rebellion. This is a very serious thing. And if it spirals out of control, could threaten the survival of Russia, which of course is what it's intended to do. So when he says, when he talks about serious punishment, understand this. This doesn't end until Wagner is destroyed. This doesn't end until Yevgeny Primakov is dead or in prison. Wagner is not going to win.

There was a gamble made. They needed several things to happen, such as, for instance, they needed the Russian nation and the people to rally around them. Wagner was going off of the reputation they had built through the battles of Soledar and Bakhmut, achieving victory at a time when many Russians were starting to question whether or not victory could be attained in the special military operation. Wagner gave them that victory, a dramatic victory, a decisive victory. And so Wagner was lauded as heroes, superheroes, the epitome of the Russian fighting man, the Russian fighting spirit. Wagner, all over Russia, there's recruiting posters put up in every city for Wagner to sign people up as Wagner was regrouping ostensibly. This morning, all those recruiting posters are being torn down. The Wagner Center in St. Petersburg, the head of their

information propaganda aspect has been occupied by Russian security forces. And Putin has signed a warrant for Prokofiev's arrest and has mobilized the army and given them orders to use all means necessary to stop this. So, this will end sooner rather than later. Let's just understand what Wagner is and isn't. They're a small group of highly professional for not so small. How many fighters, Scott? Sorry for interrupting. How many human beings are we talking about on on Wagner's side? Well, according to promotion, he has 25,000 but I'll tell you

what, I think that's exaggerated. He, that's 25, total, but some are here, there, and everywhere. The number of troops that he's probably moved into Russia numbers in the 4,000 to 5, you had the Ukrainians. If you remember, the Ukrainians used some Russian nationalist units backed by Ukrainian intelligence to attack into the Belgorod area, to cross the border, attack villages, and create the perception of a weak Russia. Who is the number one person coming in and saying, this proves Putin's weak, this proves Shoigu's ineffective, this proves Grasimov is incompetent? Rogozhin. And what did he say he was going to do? I will move Wagner on my own volition, he said, to Belgorod to save Russia. Many of the Wagner fighters who have gone into Belgorod were told that they're going there not to attack Putin, not to attack Shoigu, but to protect Russia from the Ukrainians. And they've arrived here and they're going, what the hell is going on here? Why are we doing this?

And the Ministry of Defense is saying, telling them, lay down your weapons. I'm telling you right now, by the time this day is done, the majority of the Wagner fighters will probably have laid down their weapons voluntarily because they're Russian patriots, they're Russian heroes. They don't want to be involved in an armed insurrection against a Russian president named Vladimir Putin. Doesn't this tool of MI6 and the CIA, Yevgeny Prokhorin, know that he is vastly outnumbered and that many of his own people will desert him for the reasons you just articulated? Well, I think he was told, led to believe by the Ukrainian intelligence services

and the British intelligence that Putin's government is a house of cards. And they told him, I believe they told him that the oligarchs would rally around him. That as soon as he crossed the border and made a move towards Moscow, that the governors and the mayors would all come out and say,

we're behind Yev and say, we're behind Yevgeny, we're behind Wagner, we demand Shoigu's removal, that the oligarchs would say, we're throwing our weight behind them. And then there would have been this insurrection in Moscow by Ukrainian intelligence blowing things up, where the people of Moscow would have said, holy cow, Putin is weak, Wagner, come in and save us. He was led to believe that all of this would take place. None of it's taking place. Instead, the Russian soldiers, trying to avoid civil war, have said, okay, you're coming in. We're here, but what are you doing?

We're not too happy about this. The Russian generals are saying, guys, this is pretty stupid. Put down your weapons. They kept moving towards moscow now they're getting hammered and the reality is going to sink home real soon it hasn't already these wagner fighters that they're on the wrong side of history here that they're going to be forever known not as the heroes of bakhmut but the traitors who sold out their country to a ukrainian nazi enemy backed by the West, which is seeking the destruction of the nation they're supposed to be defending.

Scott Ritter, can't thank you enough, my dear friend. So good of you to provide all this information for us on a Saturday morning, a very eventful Saturday morning. Well, thanks for having me. Always great. Well, if you like what you saw, like, subscribe, and tell a friend. We're trying to hit that 175,000 mark of subscriptions by Independence Day, the 4th of July, which is soon coming upon us.

We will soon be back as events develop. I'm happy and thrilled that so many of you watch us and want and yearn for this information, which you might not be able to get anywhere else. Or as we get it, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. You want to feel safe in your vehicle with access to your firearm that's both secure and convenient. The Headrest Safe keeps your firearm where you can access it and no one else can. It starts at theheadrestsafe.com. Thank you.