The background for the firing is said to have been that the Russian authorities believed that Sergej Mikhajlov was too friendly towards Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
That’s what the independent Russian newspaper writes The Moscow Times in a longer article about what went on behind the scenes at Tass in the period after Prigozhin’s failed rebellion at the end of June.
– Considering selling weapons to Hezbollah
– Too detailed
Tass, which was established as the Soviet Union’s telegram agency in 1925, is Russia’s largest news agency, and is often considered the Kremlin’s preferred media channel – alongside Ria Novosti.
According to The Moscow Times, the firing of Mikhajlov must have come as a shock to the agency’s approximately 2,000 employees.
Avisa writes that the political leadership in Russia was dissatisfied with Tass’s coverage of the Wagner uprising, and held Mikhajlov responsible.
Among other things, the news agency was among the first to publish photos of Wagner soldiers taking control in the city of Rostov-na-Donu.
Uprising: Yevgeny Prigozhin pictured in the Russian city of Rostov-na-Donu. He led the Wagner group until his death on 23 August. Photo: AP / NTB Show more
– Tass covered this in too much detail and too quickly. They must have been struck by some kind of madness. They have forgotten that their main task is not to report news, but to create an ideologically correct narrative for the Kremlin, says an anonymous source in the Russian government apparatus to The Moscow Times.
Via his press spokesman Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin has denied that Mikhajlov was fired, but claims that he left voluntarily.
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The firing, which is said to have taken place against Mikhajlov’s will, is being referred to as the first of a civilian employee as a result of the uprising – at least the first that is now publicly known.
In the aftermath of the failed Wagner uprising, Putin purged Prigozhin supporters from the defense leadership. The most famous of them is Sergey “General Armageddon” Surovikin, former second-in-command of the Russian defense after Valery Gerasimov.
According to The New York Times he is said to have not only supported the Wagner rebellion, but also facilitated it.
CLEARED OUT: Sergej Surovikin was high up in the Russian defense leadership, before he fell out of favor with Vladimir Putin. Photo: Sputnik / Reuters / NTB Show more
For Prigozhin, the mutiny against the Russian defense leadership ended with him being allowed to travel in “exile” in Belarus – before he and Wagner co-founder Dmitry Utkin died in a plane crash under unclear circumstances on 23 August this year.
Wagner’s leadership structure is currently unclear, but the group’s mercenaries have since Prigozhin’s death been ordered to swear allegiance to the Russian state.
It is believed that a number of Wagner soldiers are still fighting in Ukraine on the Russian side.
2023-11-05 18:55:47
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