Explaining complex things in simple words: Prigozhin assassination anniversary, blackmail with NPP threats

PRIGOZHIN ASSASSINATION ANNIVERSARY

On August 23, 2023, as a result of a plane crash in the Tver oblast of the Russian Federation, the PMC Wagner leaders Prigozhin and Utkin were killed.

 Prigozhin was killed by Putin. This is a typical mafia massacre of the Kremlin regime against an objectionable political figure. Putin took revenge on Prigozhin for the fear and humiliation experienced during the so-called “march of justice” of the Wagner mercenaries to Moscow in July of the same year. The dictator lacked the courage to accuse and judge the popular mercenary leader.

 The Kremlin used Prigozhin's mercenaries as cannon fodder, and now it is destroying Wagner cemeteries, depriving mercenaries of social protection and veteran status.

 Prigozhin's “march of justice” testified to the weakness and vulnerability of Putin's regime. Most of the security forces and the Kremlin's political servants took a wait-and-see position and were ready to support the winner.

 A year after the Prigozhin rebellion, the situation has not changed. The Russian rears are just as poorly covered and vulnerable, as the events in the Kursk oblast have shown.

 What Prigozhin started lives on; dissatisfaction with Putin's regime is growing, so sooner or later another anti-Putin rebellion will be successful.

 Especially since the dominant opinion in Russian society is that Prigozhin remained alive. This shows the demand in Russian society for an alternative to Putin.

BLACKMAIL WITH NPP THREATS

On August 22, during the meeting with the governors of regions bordering Ukraine, Putin accused Ukraine of “attempts to strike the Kursk NPP”

 Kyiv has neither the intention nor the ability to take actions that would endanger nuclear facilities both in Ukraine and on the territory of the Russian Federation.

 In 2022, not Ukraine, but rather Russia, took over the largest nuclear power plant in Europe (ZNPP) with fighting, and sent troops into the Chornobyl exclusion zone, violating all radiation safety standards.

 The Kremlin has earned a reputation as an irresponsible liar, who regularly makes absurd accusations against Ukraine and the West about the creation of a “dirty bomb”, attacks on the ZNPP, etc.

 Another activation of the Kremlin's “nuclear” rhetoric is a reaction to the defeats in the Kursk oblast.

 Trying to enlist the IAEA’s support, the Russian side urgently appealed to the representatives of the agency with an invitation to visit the Kursk NPP.

 The IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi's decision to immediately visit the Kursk NPP at the invitation of the Russian side is surprising and justly condemned by the international community. In particular, GreenPeace calls on the IAEA to immediately cancel this visit. We call on the IAEA to show wisdom and not become a hostage and unwitting accomplice of Russian provocations.

 It is Russia that is a nuclear terrorist and must comply with the provisions of the IAEA resolutions of 09/28/2023 and 03/07/2024 and immediately withdraw troops from the territory of the ZNPP, returning it to the control of the national operator – JSC NNEGC Energoatom.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security