Uprising in Russia
Melnyk: “Putin’s tyranny is hanging by the Wagner thread”
6/24/2023, 5:44 p.m
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Melnyk hopes that his country’s western allies will now further increase military support. One Russian defeat could herald a democratic spring in Russia.
The former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, sees the uprising of the Wagner mercenaries against Russian President Putin as “the moment of truth” for Russia. “Putin’s dictatorship and his fate are hanging by Wagner’s threads,” said Melnyk, who is now his country’s deputy foreign minister.
“In order to delay his fall, one could only recommend one thing to the Kremlin ruler: withdraw all Russian troops from Ukraine immediately in order to erect a defensive wall around Moscow against the Wagner mercenaries,” said Melnyk. “That would probably be the wisest – last – decision of Putin.”
In Russia, the power struggle between the Wagner group and the Russian army has escalated into an uprising led by mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Wagner mercenaries have occupied the city of Rostov-on-Don and are on their way to Moscow.
In the direction of the West, especially Germany, Melnyk said that the Ukrainians are now calling on their allies “instead of remaining silent in seven languages in the face of the Russian Punch and Judy show” immediately and massively increasing military support for Kiev. “Only Moscow’s crushing defeat on the battlefield and the liberation of the entire territory of Ukraine could herald a democratic spring in Russia and make it possible to renounce imperialist thinking,” said Melnyk. “That would only be feasible with Western – including German – fighter jets, attack helicopters and cruise missiles. We hope that the federal government will finally give the green light for these deliveries of Eurofighters, Tigers and Taurus.”
The Eurofighter is a fighter jet used by the Bundeswehr, which has not yet been discussed in Germany for deliveries to Ukraine. The Tiger is a combat helicopter, with “Taurus” Melnyk refers to cruise missiles in the Bundeswehr’s stocks. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius only announced on Saturday that the Federal Republic was “not primarily” participating in the fighter jet coalition. Germany is not part of the coalition because there are no F-16 jets.