Belarus President Turns Off Plane’s Transponder Over Russian Airspace – Attempted Russia Coup Is Real

by Gary Leff

The President of Belarus flew over Russian airspace – but his plane’s transponder was turned off until he had cleared it. Belarus is a vassal state of Putin’s regime. And Putin is facing a coup led by the boss of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

With Prigozhin’s forces targeting military aircraft, VIP aircraft movements taking steps not to be tracked seems… wise.

The Wagner group left Eastern Ukraine and took over military facilties in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. Moscow is under alert.

Roston is expected to try to enter from the Southwest:

Prigozhin says it is not a coup, but a challenge to military leadership. That leadership, of course, serves Putin. And he has demanded that unless the main military commanders come to him, he will march on Moscow.

That seems… impossible? Success with a Russian coup means taking Moscow and Moscow is simply too far away for ground forces.

Prigozhin was a member of the St. Petersburg gang, not important enough to avoid being sacrificed to 7 years in prison but who rose as a Putin courtesan. While he may not succeed, what this putsch does is make public opposition more thinkable, more possible. While there are many potential outcomes, this could be more significant than a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Update: As expected, it’s over.

They moved closer than expected, though, and without serious confrontation along the way. Strange. And then to give up. Makes one wonder if there’s more going on here that meets the eye.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. The impact on western aviation and even aviation as a whole is not near as significant as the challenge to Putin and its role in Ukraine.
    this will be absolutely fascinating to watch esp. over the weekend when news cycles are typically not near as updated as they are during the week.

  2. If wagner takes over everyone is gonna wish putin was still in power.
    Wagner will give us Holodomor 2.0

  3. Prigozhin certainly looks like a James Bond villain. And given what his people have done in Syria, Africa and Chechnya he is about as bad as they come. But it’s hard to imagine him holding Russia. Stalin has been gone a long time.

  5. A lot of republicans are afraid they won’t get a paycheck next week.

    Just three years ago Putin controlled the Kremlin and the White House. By the end of the day he may control neither.

  6. Former hot dog vendor turned Merc thinks he will cause a coup on VLad and the US mass media starts spinning the hamster wheel..

  7. This is the time for Ukraine and other friendly forces to take advantage of this and use ground, air and naval power to push the Russians out of all of Ukraine, including Crimea.

    If it hadn’t been for the Wagner group, Russia would have been done in Ukraine a while ago.

    The Wagner group are mercenaries and cause trouble in a number of countries. There is a good article about them in The Washington Post today (June 24).

  8. @Sparky

    Still spreading your lefty lies I can see.
    People like you are easily manipulated by the liberal media.

  9. Breaking: The Russian-led Putin government has just blocked access to Google News after the Prighozin’s Wagner Group begins its war against the current regime.

    When governments are scared, they block the news.

    This can’t be a good sign for Putin and his allies.

  11. Yevgeni Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner paramilitary group, said his forces would stop their march on Moscow and return to their camps to avoid bloodshed, as the Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, announced a deal to halt the armed confrontation threatening Russia.

  12. @Sparky once again offers his liberal spin on the matter. Funny how this war only started once Trump was out of office. Suggestion Sparky, turn off MSNBC for a day and try getting your news elsewhere

  15. The lib’s newest wet dream has ended, what comical farce will they “come” up with next?

  18. @Sparky Broke and Triggered is how we love our libs in America.
    Can you say Ron DeSantis 2024?

  19. @Sparky

    Shouldn’t you be dressing up as a dominatrix and reading to a group of 5 year olds?

  20. @FatAss

    Just made a killing shorting Truth Social Stock. Doing just fine. Just returned from a month in socialist France and Italy.

    Brandon won by 8 million from his basement in 2020. I have the over at 10 million in 2024.

  21. I’ve enjoyed laughing at Putin’s epic karma comeback all day. Until I came here to find all the internet trolls under the same bridge. #getalife

  22. Putin, Medyedev, et al flew out of Moscow. Lukashenko brokered a deal in which Putin rescinds his declaration against Prighozin, and Prighozin takes his troops to Belarus!

    What happens next is a question. Presumably Putin et al return and try to pretend nothing happened. Hopefully Ukraine takes advantage of the chaos and the presumed removal of Wagner from the war. Does Lukashenko now use Wagner to ensure no-one tries to unseat him? Does he send them into the war with the support Wagner grumbled Russia wasn’t giving him?

  23. @Sparky If you’re gonna daydream, daydream big. Throw in Spain and Portugal and you will exact same April and May of this year. I’ma call your bluff on truth social shorting

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