Commentary
Military mutinies vary in nature and scope, but they can provide stimulus or course correction for the forces that suffer from them.
Moscow carefully managed the brief mutiny (June 23–25) of its Wagner Group of contractor military fighters in Ukraine and had been working to bring to a head Wagner’s quasi-independent status.
The path was cleared for Wagner units to exit Ukraine and enter Rostov-on-Don unopposed. Significantly, this was about money: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s lucrative contract.
The Russian Armed Forces, with the end of the Wagner gesture, now have a more unified approach to the Ukraine battlefield. Wagner units, which showed greater efficiency than the Russian Ground Forces, had significantly contributed to stabilizing some of the fronts against the Ukrainian forces. Still, it was clear that the cost-benefit ratio of maintaining a separate battlefield command was now not in Wagner’s favor….