So any remaining conspiracy thoughts of this being orchestrated by Putin as an awkward “out” are clearly gone. Also, this will more clearly set up direct armed confrontation between Wagner and the Russian armed forces. It’s probably not that hard to get some of the regulars riled up against Shoigu and the MoD, but now Wagner has to convince them to go against Putin.
While I agree there will be a lot that hate Putin like that, I think the intercepted phone calls are too anecdotal to get a reliable picture of the loyalties within the military.
So any remaining conspiracy thoughts of this being orchestrated by Putin as an awkward “out” are clearly gone. Also, this will more clearly set up direct armed confrontation between Wagner and the Russian armed forces. It’s probably not that hard to get some of the regulars riled up against Shoigu and the MoD, but now Wagner has to convince them to go against Putin.
Listening to their intercepted phone calls, it seems like they mostly hate Putin for sending them to Ukraine.
While I agree there will be a lot that hate Putin like that, I think the intercepted phone calls are too anecdotal to get a reliable picture of the loyalties within the military.