Russian media start discussing possible candidate to replace Russian Defence Minister

Russian media outlets have begun to spread reports that the governor of Tula Oblast, Alexey Dyumin, may replace Sergey Shoigu as Russia's Defence Minister.

Source: Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian independent news outlet; RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet

Details: Shoigu's resignation was demanded by the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Dyumin's appointment is supposedly due to take place in the near future.

Complimentary posts about Dyumin appeared, in particular, in Telegram channels close to the Wagner PMC.

Some posts also suggest that Sergey Surovikin may chair the General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces instead of Valery Gerasimov.

In addition, the Russian propaganda channels in social networks began to massively repost the original message by the official channel of the Tula Oblast government about how Dyumin visited the permanent location of the "Tula battalion".

At the same time, RIA Novosti reported that Tula Governor Dyumin is currently working in his region.

On Saturday, the Russian dictator's spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not answer the question whether Dyumin had participated in negotiations with the Wagner PMC.

Later, the regional government of the Russian Federation stated that Dyumin ensured the continuous management of the region and that negotiations with Prigozhin were beyond his authority.

During Prigozhin's mutiny, there was information that Dyumin had been involved in negotiations with the PMC financier, but the regional authorities called these reports unreliable.

During the mutiny, Prigozhin himself called for the resignation of Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu. However, after the former said he was stopping the "march of justice" towards Moscow, Peskov said he was unaware of any changes "in terms of trust in the defence minister".

Alexey Dyumin is Putin’s former bodyguard and former Deputy Defence minister. Sources in the Russian media called him one of Prigozhin's patrons. Prigozhin and Dyumin have supposedly known each other for a long time and are on friendly terms, and Prigozhin's political technologists participated in Dyumin's 2016 election campaign.

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the Russian regular army had launched a missile attack on the mercenaries' rear camps. As a result, 25,000 of Prigozhin's mercenaries were allegedly going to "restore justice".

• On the morning of 24 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Head of the Wagner Private Military Group (PMC), claimed that he had taken control of the military facilities of Rostov-on-Don, including an airfield, and that his soldiers had already shot down three Russian helicopters; he said that they were "heading for Moscow". Wagner PMC mercenaries seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.

• In an emergency address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that there were attempts to "organise a coup"in the country.

• A criminal case was opened against Prigozhin for "organising an armed rebellion". Article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, under which he is being charged, provides for between 12 and 20 years’ imprisonment.

• The Russian Presidential Administration (AP) feared that within a few hours, Evgeny Prigozhin's Wagnerians could be near Moscow and fighting would break out near the capital. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Putin urgently left Moscow for Valdai. A convoy of the Wagner Group was spotted 400 km from Moscow.

• However, Prigozhin claimed that he had allegedly reached an agreement through the intermediary of Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed Belarusian President and would go to Belarus and ordered all his mercenaries to turn back.

• Despite the promise, the Russian authorities did not close the criminal case against Prigozhin, and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation continues investigating the rebellion case.

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