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Susan Katz Keating

Soldier of Fortune Goes to Bosnia: Wagner Group Symbols and a Mystery Flag

Has the Wagner Group found support in Bosnia? In the wake of Yevgeny Prigozhin‘s recent aborted run on Moscow, Soldier of Fortune went into Eastern Europe to check out the scene. Our correspondent Heath Hansen, who normally roams the U.S. southern border, on Saturday crossed from Montenegro into southern Bosnia …

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Russia Hosts Cuban Military Chief, Resumes Airline Flights to Communist-Run Island

VARADERO, CUBA July 2 – Russia’s first scheduled flight to Cuba since 2022 landed on Sunday in Cuba, TASS reports. The flight took place a few days after Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hosted a visit from Cuba’s Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Alvaro Lopez Miera. The Kremlin says …

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US Sends B-52 Nuclear-Capable Bombers Over Korean Peninsula

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital. The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and …

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Putin Arrests General ‘Armageddon’ Surovikin Over Ties to Wagner Mutiny

Russian authorities appear to have detained General Sergei Surovikin over his suspected connection to the Wagner Group’s mutiny last week, according to media reports. The specific details surrounding Surovikin’s status remain blurry, but top Russian and U.S. officials have said the senior general has been detained, the Financial Times and The New York …

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How Prigozhin’s Non-Coup Unfolded From Russia’s Rostov-on-Don

From RFEL/RL Russian Service ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia – The first inkling that something unusual was happening came when uniformed men with weapons at the ready blocked traffic at the intersection of Budyonnovsky Prospekt and Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa. Although cars were turned back, pedestrians were allowed to enter the underpass and proceed …

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The 24 Hours That Shook Putin’s Presidency: Echos of Soviet KGB’s Failed Effort to Oust Gorbachev

In early 1991, an article by then-correspondent Susan Katz Keating appeared in Soldier of Fortune, describing how the KGB likely would try to overthrow Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The article, “How to Stage a Soviet Coup,” was published shortly before the KGB targeted Gorbachev in a failed coup attempt. In …

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The Coup That Wasn’t: Prigozhin Takes Deal With Putin; Cancels Uprising, Moves to Belarus

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who turned his fighters against the military leadership in Moscow, has moved to Belarus, and the criminal charges against him for mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped, the Kremlin said Saturday.  Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko negotiated the deal with the Wagner Group chief, his …

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Meet Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Ex-Convict Who Made a Run on Moscow

by Mike Eckel Yevgeny Prigozhin, a convict who parlayed a St. Petersburg restaurant business into lucrative Kremlin contracts, founded the private military company Wagner, and became a relentless critic of the Russian military command, made and then stopped a run on Moscow as part of a truncated rebellion. Who is …

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Kremlin Charges Wagner Chief With Mutiny, as Prigozhin Asks Russians to Join Uprising Against Defense Minister

The Kremlin charged Yevgeny Prigozhin with mutiny on Friday night after the bellicose Wagner Group chief called on all Russians to join his forces in an uprising against the country’s defense minister. Prigozhin accused his wartime nemesis, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, of ordering Russian troops to shell Prigozhin’s forces in …

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At ‘OP Baby’s Head’: Water for the Cartels, Cross-Border Mules, and a Skull in the Badlands

by Heath Hansen Editor’s note: In the remote no-man’s land just north of the Arizona border with Mexico, SOF correspondent Heath Hansen stationed himself at OP “Baby’s Head,” in a place where weapons, dope, and a fractured human skull have been spotted in the brush.  Here in this treacherous spot …

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