Wagner mutiny: Prigozhin’s soldiers rage while others cry conspiracy

Yevgeny Prigozhin may have boasted he had the loyalty of all 25,000 members of his mercenary army, but it seems that may have shifted as quickly as the Wagner Group’s rebellion petered out.

In online messages analysed by BBC Verify, Wagner troops and their relatives raged against Prigozhin’s decision to halt his dramatic march on Moscow and withdraw from the captured city of Rostov. “The bald waste of space destroyed Wagner PMC with his own hands. And screwed everyone he could,” fumed one online poster claiming to be a Wagner fighter on a Telegram channel with 200,000 followers.

“It’s been another senseless revolt,” they added. Telegram is the social media platform of choice for Wagner soldiers and pro-war circles in Russia, allowing often anonymous communication with thousands of followers at a time.

It was where Prigozhin chose to announce his so-called “March of Justice” against the Russian regime, but it has now become the place where many have turned against him.

Mark Krutov, a journalist with the RFE/RL outlet’s Russian Service, has access to the Telegram group chats used by relatives of Wagner fighters. He shared some of their messages with the BBC.

“They were simply betrayed,” one women wrote. “I trusted Prigozhin, but what he did is dishonourable.”

“He shouldn’t have done this. This is pure betrayal,” agreed another user.

Prigozhin long enjoyed highly vocal support from a network of pro-Wagner influencers. For months, they have championed his actions and attacked his opponents in the Ministry of Defence – particularly his sworn enemy, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

But when the Wagner mutiny was developing, their reaction was surprisingly muted.

Two of the largest groups, Grey Zone and Reverse Side of the Medal – with almost 900,000 followers between them – did not rush to endorse his actions, instead aiming for the reasonably neutral middle ground of blaming antagonism by Mr Shoigu and his loyalists for the bloodshed.

Others found refuge in conspiracy theories.

Wagner PMC Briefs is a channel Prigozhin has confirmed as an official page of Wagner and is run by one of his troops. It noted – with eyebrows raised – that when Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the mutiny, he didn’t mention anyone by name. “[Putin] did not name “the mutineers and traitors,” it said. “Perhaps it was to let Prigozhin restore justice and punish those guilty of real betrayal that resulted in the failure [of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine]?”

The theory that Mr Putin and Prigozhin conspired to stage a coup attempt in order to “test the loyalty of the Russian elites” quickly gained traction on social media.”Girls, I thought maybe it was all orchestrated to remove Shoigu, but through Prigozhin, so Putin wouldn’t have to do it himself?” wrote a woman on the Wagner relatives’ chat.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research in Kyiv, disagrees.

“If it was staged, what for? So everyone could see how weak Putin is?” he said. “What happened was a public humiliation of Putin. And Prigozhin? He partially lost his reputation: He used to demonstrate power, and then he simply retreated.”But Prigozhin’s last public comment on the day of the mutiny, filmed after he agreed to stand down, continues to fuel speculation online. “We’ve had an OK result today,” he said. “Cheered everybody up.”