The news in drawing: The Wagner group has turned against its master
The revolt by Wagner’s mercenaries lasted only a few hours. The Russian president said he was “betrayed” by the leader of the group, Evguéni Prigojine, a former Kremlin stalwart. Vladimir Putin has finally seen a key ally turn against him in his war against Ukraine.
The world held its breath on Saturday, June 24, when the troops of the Wagner paramilitary group, 25,000 strong according to their leader Yevgeny Prigojine, turned on the Russian army and threatened to topple Putin’s government.
Belarusian President Lukashenko positioned himself as a mediator in the afternoon, offering to welcome Wagner’s troops into his country to avoid a bloodbath. A tripartite agreement was quickly reached and the rebellion ended.
On Monday evening, June 26, Vladimir Putin congratulated himself on avoiding a civil war. Russia will be “stronger” after this failed uprising, its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, assured on Friday, June 30.
In the opinion of many observers, however, the Kremlin champion comes out weakened by this sequence. Faced with the difficulties of the Russian army in the war it is waging against Ukraine, the Wagner group provided first-class support.
By taking on this rebellion, its leader, Evguéni Prigojine, a former colt of Vladimir Putin, turned against him. It is this turn that Rodrigo de Matos illustrated. This editorial cartoonist for the weekly magazine Expresso (Portugal) since 2006 has lived in Macao, China, since 2009. He received the Press Cartoon Europe award in 2014 (Knokke-Heist, Belgium) for the “best cartoon published in the European press in 2013”.
Cartooning for Peace is an international network of cartoonists committed to promoting, through the universality of press cartoons, freedom of expression, human rights and mutual respect between populations of different cultures or faiths.
