By Tiko Okoye
The common thread that connects the lives of Grigori Rasputin, Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin is tied to the city where they became transformed from erstwhile local champions to icons with breath-taking national and international name recognition: St. Petersburg. But let me first narrate a crucial part of Russian history that might explain why the empire-building Putin is so fixated on Ukraine.
Kiev, aka Kyiv, an ancient city on the bank of the resplendent Dnieper River, aka Dnipro River, and capital of modern-day Ukraine, was the first of three Russian capitals at a time the nation – founded on 882 – was known as Kievan Rus. Christianity is said to have been introduced into the East Slavic state of Kievan Rus with the baptism of the Rus’ Grand Prince of Kiev, Vladimir the Great, by Greek missionaries from Byzantium more than 2,000 years ago in the 9th century.
Nobody can therefore gainsay claims that Kiev is a sacred place for all Orthodox Christians in Russia and Ukraine, more significantly underscoring the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church, of which the Russian Orthodoxy became a dominant orientation, took roots here in 988. Kiev is home to the St. Sophia CathedraI – an imposing 13-domed architectural masterpiece, one of the chef-d’oeuvres of world culture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site – was built in 1037. The city also houses the Lievo-Pecherska Lavra (monastery) – a majestic edifice and National Historical Architectural Preserve, with architectural ensemble of 11-19th centuries – considered sacred to the Orthodoxy.
The foregoing explain why Putin was very keen on procuring the green light of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church – also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (including Ukraine and other post-Soviet states and Russian diaspora), Patriarch Kirill, prior to commencing blistering raids of the city and other targets in Ukraine.
That Ukraine was part and parcel of Tsarist Russia explains why so many people, especially in Africa, who equally recognize Israel’s claims on Palestinian lands as a divine mandate, boisterously support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But members of this school of thought forget that it was only after the East Slavic state of Kievan Rus disintegrated in 1263 that a large chunk called the Grand Duchy of Moscow grew to become the Tsardom of Russia, and the rest has become history.
Apart from confronting the knotty Catch-22 puzzle of who first ‘owned’ who, it must also not be forgotten that Russia and Ukraine were equally occupied and ruled for over 600 years by invading Austrians, Polish-Lithuanian confederates, Mongols, Serbians and Ottoman Turks who equally built several key cities, such as Rostov-on-Don, and many more. Does this, therefore, confer on them the unquestionable right to invade and plunder these places at will?
Besides, just as the census conducted about 10 years ago indicate that 17.3% of the indigenes of Ukraine – mainly in eastern and southern regions – are Russian-speaking, a census conducted about the same time in Russia indicated that a whopping 28.3% of the Russian population are actually non-Russians. What now? Should other nations invade parts of Russia to bring their peoples under one national flag and country?
St. Petersburg, Russia’s cultural centre and second-largest city, is an ancient city built on the bank of the river Neva – renamed Leningrad in honour of the founding father of Socialist Russia, Vladimir Lenin, for 70 years prior to reverting to its old name in 1991. It is imperial Russia’s second capital and was founded by the rebel Tsar Peter the Great. Russian tsars resided here prior to the relocation to Moscow.
Rasputin was a Siberian-born peasant who found fame in St. Petersburg by making himself indispensable to Tsar Nicholas II and Queen consort Alexandria in the treatment of their only son, Alexei, afflicted with haemophilia. A group of conservative noblemen opposed to his influence over the imperial family subsequently assassinated him, precipitating the overthrow of the House of Romanov during WWII, the nunc dimitis of imperial Russia and the ascendancy of the Bolsheviks.
Putin – is this ponderously an abridged form of Rasputin? – was born and bred in St. Petersburg. After enlisting in the KGB and serving in various theatres, such as New Zealand where authorities claim he worked undercover as a Bata shoe salesman in central Wellington, Putin became Station Manager of the KGB and its successor organisation, the Federal Security Service, FSB, prior to relocating to Moscow to join the administration of then-President Boris Yeltsin. Starting as the national director of the FSB, he rapidly moved through the ranks to being appointed prime minister by Yeltsin.
After the resignation of the latter, Putin was named acting President prior to being elected to his first term as substantive president. The fourth term he is now serving is a consequence of controversial constitutional amendments he signed that can extend his presidency to 2036. He is currently the longest-serving Russian president and second longest-serving president in Europe after his soulmate and whimpering lapdog, Alexander Lukashenko of neighbouring Belarus.
Prigozhin was a nondescript seller of hot dog on the streets of St. Petersburg, until he saved enough money to open his first restaurant, and more restaurants thereafter. On one opportune day Putin – while serving as the KGB station manager in the city precincts – ate at one of Prigozhin’s restaurants, and it became the latter’s first giant leap on the road to fame and fortune.
It was love at first taste for Putin! As soon as he settled down in Moscow he requested Prigozhin to join him as his personal chef and he soon became known and addressed as “Putin’s chef.” But this wasn’t all. His closeness to Putin soon gifted Prigozhin the highly lucrative contract of being sole supplier of food to the Kremlin and Russian military formations.
His high-intensity involvement with the military might have enabled him to envision gaps in the international security architecture that could best be filled by a formidable mercenary military organisation, and Wagner was born, pronto! The highly commendable efforts made by Wagner to extend Russia’s influence and power across the globe shortly earned Prigozhin the highest honour of a grateful nation: Hero of Russia. His troops proved themselves to be men of valour in the fight for Bakhmut in southern Ukraine. It was the only Russian military outfit to gain territory at a time the regular Russian troops were being humiliated and chased out of the territory they previously held in eastern Ukraine.
It soon became a case of “Shoigu (long-serving Minister of Defence, Sergei) and Russian generals have killed their thousands and Prigozhin his ten thousands!” From this point onwards, there was increasingly no love lost between him and the military hierarchy. Prigozhin went on to launch an increasingly bitter diatribe against the military chiefs that didn’t augur well for unity and singleness of purpose in the war effort.
Unfortunately, Putin, who could’ve nipped the snowballing animus in the bud, took a sanguine view of the problems, believing that Prigozhin’s invectives would push the military top guns to put up a better effort in prosecuting the ‘special military operation.’ But the brickbats ultimately reached a point when the falcon could no longer hear the falconer and the centre could no longer hold, as Prigozhin withdrew his troops from Bakhmut while bitterly accusing regular Russian troops of deliberately launching a rocket attack that killed scores of his followers.
Within the hour, Wagner entered and occupied key military sites in Rostov-on-Don without firing a single shot! Were Ukraine to recapture Rostov, it won’t only mark the end of the city’s usefulness as a critical command and logistics hub for the Russian army, but it would equally set up Crimea as a plum target just waiting to be plucked. Why and how?
- The concluding Part 2 would answer the questions of Why? and How? and further crucial and topical matters attendant and arising. Don’t miss it!
