The Mutiny

I’m finishing my third beer at a Barcelona bar — I’m in Spain, trying to see if I can move my exile further from Russia — and there are explosions happening all around, because it’s Hogueras de San Juan, a Spanish New Year-like festival celebrating the shortest night of the year. These are the good, safe kinds of explosions.

I text my mom back in Russia, “Are you guys about to have a civil war?”

She texts back, “I’m not sure. Just catching up on this over on Facebook.”

What we’re referring to is the statements made by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group, made in the last hour. He claims his people have been attacked by the Russian armed forces, and he’s going to take revenge on the country’s military command.

There are 25,000 of us, and we’re coming to sort out the causes of the bespredel¹ that’s happening in the country. 25,000 is the tactical reserve, and the strategic reserve is the entire army and the whole country. Anyone who wants to, join us, we need to put an end to …