Raphaël Glucksmann, MEP Public Square, and Guillaume Ancel, former French army officer and military expert, were guests of “8:30 am franceinfo” on Monday 26 June 2023.
Vladimir Putin emerges “humiliated” from the uprising of the Wagner paramilitary group in Russia, stressed Monday, June 26, Raphaël Glucksmann, MEP Public Square, guest of 8:30 Franceinfo. “In reality, he was humiliated by the Ukrainian resistance for 15 months and he must be humiliated,” adds the Socialist MEP. “Historically, fascist leaders do not fall until they are humiliated, until they are defeated militarily,” he insists.
For his part, Guillaume Ancel, a former French army officer and military expert, believes that the Wagner militia “run out of soldiers”. According to him, “Prigozhin had most of his mercenaries massacred in the Battle of Bakhmout, which he lost”.
Wagner’s Uprising: “The Failure of the Russian Army”
“Putin really wavered for 24 hours. Putin’s absolute power wavered, wavered because of one of his creatures,” explained Guillaume Ancel. According to the military expert, this failed uprising is “the failure of the Russian army in Ukraine that prompted Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigoyine to rise up against a Russian army that he knows is incapable of assuring the power of those backed by the allies to oppose the Ukrainian army”.
“For Putin, the fact that his war dog is rebelling is a humiliation,” added Place Publique MEP Raphaël Glucksmann. “Prigoyine was the man who took on all the conflicts that Putin himself couldn’t take on,” particularly in Africa, he explains.
The fate of militia leader Wagner remains unclear and his future very uncertain. Belarus could welcome him in the coming days: “We have to settle his fate. He dared to challenge Putin’s power. In fact, it was Putin he attacked when he was his creature. Putin cannot stop doing this,” assures Guillaume Ancel. According to him, the militiaman made a strategic mistake: “A hero who retreats is no longer a hero, he is someone who has been lost.” What Prigojine did was a fatal mistake: to rebel against his master and himself to withdraw. He had to go all the way.” . And now it is his destiny to disappear,” he said. Guillaume Ancel “believes that the FSB, the former KGB, played a key role in stopping this crisis and preventing Prigojine from getting the support he needed to oust power.”
Wagner militia: It “has no more soldiers”
“Wagner has practically no more soldiers,” confirms Guillaume Ancel. Prigojine had most of his mercenaries massacred at the Battle of Bakhmout, which he lost. In reality, he massacred more than 20,000 men, there are more than 80,000 wounded on Wagner’s side, which means that Wagner hardly exists anymore in terms of soldiers,” assures the military specialist. The convoys drove back to Moscow last Saturday, according to Transporter. “There was very little military equipment,” he said. “What worried the Russian power very much was that there were probably regular military units inside,” he said. He stated, “The essence of Wagner’s strength is his power.” Communication. It’s armies of trolls and his ability to communicate.”
Vladimir Putin: “A mafioso” who created “permanent chaos”.
The Kremlin’s strongman “is a gangster who has cultivated mafiosi and created permanent chaos. Chaos within its borders and chaos outside its borders,” explained Raphaël Glucksmann. Putin deals with his opponents as the mafia can deal: “How many people have walked through the window, drunk tea, died because of Vladimir Putin?” he wondered. Physical eliminations organized on our own territory, he assures us: “I find it amazing how weak the reactions of westerners have been for decades. It is because this mafia regime has stretched its tentacles into the heart of our cities, and we have “not reacted,” he denounced.
Guillaume Ancel confirms the “mafia system”. According to him, “We must look at Prigozhin as Putin’s mirror. It’s just one of his creatures that rebelled against him. It is the image of his mirror that suddenly appears in him.” As of today, “the key to this war” in Ukraine is “Putin and the mafia regime that rules in Russia. The day this regime falls we can discuss with his successors,” he said. -he explains.
Westerners: “We must humiliate this regime”
Now that the militia leader has joined the ranks, “it is imperative that Russia lose militarily in Ukraine, and that we abandon the notion that Putin desperately needs a way out, that we absolutely avoid humiliating Ukrainians “The Russian people and the Russian regime,” emphasizes Raphaël Glucksmann. “This is a fundamental strategic error. This regime must be humbled. The regime itself must be humiliated. The Russian people must feel that this imperialism is at an impasse and that in the end all this will lead to the loss of Russia,” he continued. According to the MEP, Westerners must step up their support for Ukraine and “now express a clear strategic objective” which he says is that “the last Russian soldier must leave Ukrainian soil”. To do that, “we need to reverse the balance of power, much more so than we are doing today.” We have delivered enough equipment to Ukraine to keep Ukraine from collapsing. In order for Ukraine to resist now, we need to provide enough equipment for Ukraine to win militarily. That is the challenge for the coming weeks,” he explains.
Raphaël Glucksmann referred to Emmanuel Macron’s position: “We have to stop this idea of France as a mediator. France is a European power that will be at the center of building European defenses, and that starts with being at the center of resisting Vladimir Putin’s offensive and aggression,” he said.
For his part, Guillaume Ancel also criticized the French head of state, who, according to him, was in a “confusion” between “European power and French power”. It’s quite unfortunate that he doesn’t say anything when he talks about the relationship with Putin on behalf of the European Union,” he lamented. “Today this war in Ukraine is above all a challenge for Europe. France cannot defeat Putin,” he said. “Emmanuel Macron is extremely ambiguous,” he added.