I still have no idea. They encountered so little resistance, so many of the Russian rank-and-file and even commanders seemed content to just sit and see what he’d do. Seems like he really could have just kept rolling past all the barricades and past all the police and national guard who were doing very little other than just watching. IDK, Russia as a state is so close to just a mafia that I really question if any significant amount of troops had enough personal loyalty to Putin, or if 90% of them would have happily stood by while Wagner occupied the Kremlin and switched sides the moment it seemed safe to do so. I can only imagine that a massive barrage of “we know where everyone you love is and we have knives to their throats right now” aimed at the Wagner commanders is the only thing that stopped them from just walking into the Capital almost without firing a shot, because that’s just how corrupt and empty the Russian state is right now. But who the hell knows.
I still have no idea. They encountered so little resistance, so many of the Russian rank-and-file and even commanders seemed content to just sit and see what he’d do. Seems like he really could have just kept rolling past all the barricades and past all the police and national guard who were doing very little other than just watching. IDK, Russia as a state is so close to just a mafia that I really question if any significant amount of troops had enough personal loyalty to Putin, or if 90% of them would have happily stood by while Wagner occupied the Kremlin and switched sides the moment it seemed safe to do so. I can only imagine that a massive barrage of “we know where everyone you love is and we have knives to their throats right now” aimed at the Wagner commanders is the only thing that stopped them from just walking into the Capital almost without firing a shot, because that’s just how corrupt and empty the Russian state is right now. But who the hell knows.