A previous staff member of Yevgeny Prigozhins troll factory, a college student who discovered himself near the battling and a soldier from Rostov-on-Don, the city occupied by the rebels.Two years after Wagners stunning rebellion versus the Russian military leadership, eyewitnesses recalled their memories of among the most disorderly days in Russias recent history in remarks to The Moscow Times.I was pleased but not for longPolina, 22, was working for RIA FAN, the St.
Petersburg-based news firm widely referred to as the giant factory for its role as one of the main propaganda arms of Yevgeny Prigozhins media empire.Late in the evening of June 23, 2023, she was jolted awake by a phone call.My phone was exploding with messages, said Polina, who, like others interviewed for this short article, kept her surname for safety factors.
My managers were asking everybody who had the ability to concern work urgently.
Individuals who remained in the workplace on the graveyard shift couldnt keep up with the flood of news and immediate jobs from Prigozhins press service.When Polina checked out that her employer had all of a sudden declared a march of justice and sent a column of Wagner mercenaries toward Moscow, she was stunned.In profanity-laced tirades, Prigozhin implicated Russias top military brass of stealing Wagners victories in Ukraine and knocked the Kremlins monstrous administration for obstructing the war effort.I just had curse words running through my head, Polina recalled.
However at the same time, I felt an odd sort of regard for the man who began this rebellion.
Here was Putins previous chef, somebody who had served him personally, now taking up arms against his tsar and sponsor.
It seemed like something brand-new.
I was pleasantly satisfied but not for long.A tank with flowers in its muzzle is seen throughout the Wagner military mutiny in Rostov-on-Don on June 24, 2023.
Fargoh/ Wikimedia CommonsShe worked from home through the night, hardly able to process what was unfolding.
Meanwhile, Wagners forces fulfilled no resistance as they rolled into Rostov-on-Don, a city of 1 million individuals, and seized the headquarters of the Southern Military District along with several government buildings.All I might do was publish journalism releases Prigozhins group was sending us, she said.
Right after, the authorities obstructed our website.
Everything started glitching.
I didnt even have time to catch my breath I simply lost consciousness at 4 in the morning.While Polina was scrambling to write the news, Dmitry, a military officer, took up his post in Rostov-on-Don.
I appeared for task and saw a crowd of individuals sitting in front of the TV, viewing a report that there was a rebellion and Prigozhin was heading towards Rostov, he said.
They showed an appeal from General Surovikin calling on the mercenaries to stop.
We started joking that next theyd show Swan Lake, he added, a recommendation to the ballet notoriously relayed during the Soviet coup effort of 1991.
Dmitry stated that viewpoints amongst his associates were mixed.Some appreciated Prigozhin for speaking freely about the issues in the Defense Ministry.
Others saw him as a conman leading an army of lawbreakers, Dmitry said.If the mutiny had been successful, some soldiers might have supported him, he acknowledged.But not me.
I swore an oath to Russia, not to a private military company, he said.I was terrified, he remembered.
Not for myself, however more for my wife.
I texted her to state I was great and asked her not to check out the news.
Most of all, I didnt desire all of this to end in bloodshed.It would have been cinematic to die like that but I took a taxiAs Polina was going to sleep after working all night, Wagner fighters were encountering Russian soldiers in Voronezh, another city of 1 million people in southern Russia.Meanwhile, Georgy, a 25-year-old graduate student, was going back to his home in the Voronezh suburbs after a night at the bar.A pal suddenly called me and said there were reports of gunfire near the city, Georgy stated.
I examined Google Maps and saw that my bus was going right past that area.It would have been cinematic to pass away right after someone told me, Be cautious, theres shooting going on, he joked.
I decided to take a taxi and go a different route.
Luckily, I got home without event and went to sleep at seven in the morning.A civilian hugs a Wagner fighter on a tank with flowers in its muzzle after completion of the mutiny.Fargoh/ Wikimedia CommonsWhile Georgy slept, a military helicopter crashed just a few kilometers from his home, an oil depot took off and a shell hit a nearby apartment or condo block.
Authorities stated a counterterrorism operation in the region.I called my manager and said I couldnt can be found in to work that day.
He treated it with understanding, Georgy recalled, smiling.My respect turned to outragePolina was likewise unable to go to work that day, but for a different factor: Federal Security Service (FSB) representatives were raiding the RIA FAN office.When I woke up, I saw a message in the work chat that theyd broken down the doors and began searching the location.
My coworkers were detained.
They stopped reacting to messages, she said.As she saw reports of deaths and destruction from the disobedience, she said her initial adoration for Prigozhin paved the way to outrage.Did his media employees deserve to be detained and interrogated? Did they deserve to risk prosecution? she asked.
I was in limbo, awaiting any of my associates to inform me what had actually happened and what would happen next.Polina said that FSB officers were looking for the individual details of everyone who worked for Prigozhins companies.They went through our computer systems.
You might find everything wed divulged throughout polygraph tests when we were worked with: our addresses, passport information, phone numbers, details about relatives, realty abroad, protest records, viewpoints about Putin and the war, Polina said.
A great deal of compromising information.She stayed frozen in worry up until the evening of June 24, when Prigozhin quickly revealed he was turning his forces around.
The Kremlin had consented to spare the mutineers from prosecution for treason in exchange for Prigozhin going into exile in Belarus.My colleagues were launched from the office.
I felt relieved.
I hoped everything would be great, that we wouldnt be prosecuted.
I had blended sensations.
It was over before it truly started.
I believed that all these sacrifices were not worth it.
Everything appeared like a circus to me, simply a show.
Prigozhins ego journey, stated Polina, adding that her colleagues felt similarly.No one understood what we were doing anymoreAfter that, Prigozhin disappeared from public view.Polina returned to work, despite the fact that she did not comprehend why she was still appearing at all.Since our site was blocked, we needed to utilize VPNs in the days that followed.
Nobody read our stories.
Our website traffic was practically no.
Our media were dying.
And there was no word from our employer Prigozhin.A memorial devoted to the Wagner Group in Moscow.Lesless/ Wikimedia CommonsNor did RIA FANs editor-in-chief provide any clear guidance.He said, Lets keep working for now and figure it out later, she recalled.Soon, banished Russian media began reporting that Prigozhins media holding company will shut down.In every short article, they called us Prigozhins giants, Polina said.
A lot of my coworkers teased that Liberals are yelling about a giant factory, however they dont attempt to call us journalists.
Yet all of those Meduzas and DOXAs are propagandists similar to us.Still, she confesses, most of the personnel were not particularly patriotic and did not care much about Prigozhins fate.We never truly discussed politics throughout breaks or lunch in the lunchroom.
I think the majority of people were working there for the money and the convenience.
Everybody was mainly worried about their salaries, she said.Later, she found out that RIA FANs leading editors had actually known beforehand that their workplace would be searched.They quietly erased their personal info from shared files before the security forces showed up.
They didnt alert anybody, nor did they even recommend working from home that day.
They just left, she said.A week later, all RIA FAN editorial personnel were asked to send letters of resignation.Polina states she hasnt communicated with her previous colleagues.After they left me without an income, I didnt want to think of Prigozhin or his business ever again, she said.
All I know is some guys discovered work at other outlets not associated with Prigozhins holding company.
Apparently, there was a lot of demand for previous trolls.A turning point that never happenedTwo years after his rebellion and death in a mystical airplane crash, Prigozhin himself appears to have mainly been forgotten by the public.
On the anniversary of the mutiny, there were no pointers of those events on the streets of Russian cities.Today, the late Wagner leader is mostly kept in mind through memes and the coarse, remarkable expressions he coined, particularly one from the day of the rebellion: There are 25,000 people, and were pertaining to sort things out!Prigozhin did a lot for the front [in the war], stated Dmitry, the officer.
No one really comprehends why he did what he did that day.
Its an embarassment about the guys who died.His rebellion will go down in our nations history as a turning point that never ever happened, he stated.