Vanishing Veneer: The Elite’s Fear and Moscow’s Private Plane Exodus

According to several sources, a new reality has dawned in Russia, causing fear among the elite and prompting some private planes to leave Moscow. The exact cause of this fear is not clear, but it may be related to the recent failed mutiny by the Wagner Group mercenaries, which was the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule in more than two decades. The situation seems to have been resolved for now, with the warlord agreeing to relocate to Belarus, but the rebellion has left Putin’s position weakened.

According to several sources, Rostov-on-Don was targeted by the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, in a failed mutiny against the Russian government. The Wagner Group commander, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that his fighters were in control of the city’s military sites, but these claims could not be independently verified. Some local residents met the Wagner forces as heroes, bringing them water and sweets, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin decried their armed insurrection as a “stab in the back”. The situation in the city was precarious, and turmoil in the region that is so strategically important to Moscow could have far-reaching ramifications for the conflict in Ukraine. However, the Wagner mercenaries turned back short of Moscow to avoid bloodshed