Antifa.ru has collected the far-right’s reaction to the news of Prigozhin’s military mutiny. On the night of 24 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner PMC, issued a statement accusing the Russian Defence Ministry of missile attacks on the camp of his mercenaries and announced a “march of justice to Rostov”. On the morning of 25 June, Wagner PMC units occupied the centre of Rostov and seized government buildings, including the FSB headquarters and the Southern Military District headquarters. In the evening they marched towards Moscow along federal highways.
Military far-right
Rusich
The neo-Nazi unit Rusich, part of Wagner’s structure, has been spreading Prigozhin’s messages and started a conflict with monarchist Igor Strelkov since the start of the insurgency.
By the morning a statement came out that “the group is in the southern section of the front and has no operational information”.
Topaz
A more active, but also wait-and-see attitude was taken by Topaz, a member of the unit Rusich. He distributed Prigozhin’s audio messages, but questioned the reality of what was happening and repeatedly urged them to refrain from shooting at each other under any circumstance:
“So far I think we are witnessing another planned spectacle which is quite likely being played out for our enemy.”
Española
Unit Española, recruited from far-right football fans by the Ministry of Defence with the support of orthodox oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, remains silent. But several accounts associated with the unit are actively commenting on the events.
The Volunteer | Española channel has been actively spreading Prigozhin’s messages and commented on the situation with the phrase “Tuvan Circus is Done” (minister of defence Sergey Shoigu is of Tuvan origin). Mikhail “Pitbull” Turkanov, a former MMA fighter, far-right activist and instructor of the unit, recorded several video messages in his channel PITBULL & EspañolA with the following criticism: “We are not dickheads to fit into any ramblings. We came here to destroy Ukrainians…”
106 Airborne detachment Moscow
Abstained
RID and the Imperial Legion
One of the leaders of the far-right monarchist Russian Imperial Movement and commander of its militant wing the Imperial Legion Denis Gariev recorded a video message in which he spoke cautiously about Prigozhin’s mutiny. Although the RID and the Imperial Legion are fighting on Russia’s side, they are formally opposed to Putin, but Gariyev condemned Prigozhin’s demarche rather than supported it.
RVC
The neo-Nazi unit Russian Volunteer Corps, which is siding with Ukraine, has backed the insurgency: “Although we stand on different sides of the barricades and have different views on the future of the Russian Federation, I could well call him a patriot of Russia, without sarcasm or irony”.
Kapustin
RVC commander Denis Kapustin supported the insurgency in his personal telegram channel: “I think the fighters of the RVC should take advantage of the favourable situation and check the security of a number of sections of the Russian state border.”
Caesar of the Russian Legion of Freedom
Former RID activist Caesar, who now speaks on behalf of the Legion of Freedom Russia, which is fighting for Ukraine, recorded a short audio message in which he rejoiced over the mutiny and indicated that he would fight “both Putin’s and Prizgozhin’s Russia”.
Dmitry Rogozin
Dmitry Rogozin, former head of Roscosmos and the most successful nationalist in power, has condemned the mutiny.
Boneheads
Country Club
Called to take advantage of the situation and the confusion and Friday drinking to gang up on “non-Russians” and drunken Russians.
Far-right snuff bloggers
“Max. A matter of honour” spreaded Kremlin narratives on Prigozhin’s fake troops. “Stay out of the way and stay home”, stated channel.
Svarogov
Speaking out for Prigozhin:
“Prigozhin is beautiful, the only one interested in winning this war. Like I said, I think a civil war is about to break out”.
Bloggers and publicists
Misha Mavashi
Called for calm and expressed suspicion of faking Prigozhin’s troops: “I, like many people, am just monitoring the situation. And I do not pry with my “expert” opinion. A given. The situation is developing rapidly. We will see what happens next.
Mononational
Refrained from commenting as well, although there was clearly sympathy for Prigozhin in the post.
Kholmogorov
After the first news of the mutiny, Kholmogorov took a wait-and-see attitude, for some reason calling on his subscribers to “chastity”: “When everyone is fucked up, chastity becomes the main virtue.”
Sons of Monarchy
“All debriefings – after Victory!”
“What Russia needs is not a Revolution, but a Counter-Revolution that will purge all the proceeds of our country”
Malofeev
In a post with the headline “NO REVOLUTION”, Orthodox oligarch Malofeev radically condemned the revolt by drawing an analogy with the February Revolution during World War I: “But on the eve of the spring offensive of 1917, there was a military coup in Russia, later called the ‘February Revolution’… Everyone knows what happened next: Russia plunged into the chaos of revolution and civil war. Stop it before it’s too late”.
Dugin
Dugin, an employee of Malofeyev’s Tsargrad, took a similar stance. He reposted his boss’s statement criticizing the mutiny, and also tried to give his own interpretation of what is happening: “As soon as we face the real enemy head-on, the satanic West and its demonic minions, it sows confusion within ourselves – and so on from age to age. When are we going to wise up…”
Girkin
Girkin wrote about the possibility of an armed mutiny by Prigozhin a few weeks before the events. Immediately after stating “the march on Rostov”, Girkin called it “an attempted military coup”. And then drew an analogy with Mussolini’s march on Rome, noting that unlike Prigozhin, Benito was not a criminal: “This is exactly how the Fascist coup in Italy in 1922 was done. Benito Mussolini led first thousands and then tens of thousands of ‘Blackshirts’ to Rome. Nobody resisted, the putschists were welcomed by the population. And the king ceded real power to him”… Girkin called Prigozhin’s possible accession to power “a stab in the back” and predicted a civil war with the collapse of the Russian Federation and Latin American-style dictatorships. Without rules and without laws – according to criminal concepts”.
Pozdnyakov
Far-right blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov has rather supported Prigozhin’s performance.
