&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'This is not a bluff': Putin facing mutiny? Russian commander warns army would 'turn guns on Kremlin' unless... | WATCH")
A Russian military commander has threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with an armed uprising if the Kremlin does not come clean about the war in Ukraine. In a startling video that quickly went viral online, Alexander Lunin, a 39-year-old former commander of a Russian volunteer battalion in occupied Ukraine, threatened that the army would "turn its weapons against the Kremlin".
Russian army threatens Putin with armed rebellion
In an Instagram video posted on Thursday, Lunin directly addressed the Russian president and warned of "very serious consequences" if his demands were ignored. He claimed that unnamed military officials and members of the security services had asked him to deliver a message to Putin. According to him, they wanted a face-to-face meeting at the Kremlin, with a live broadcast so the country could hear the "truth" about what is happening on the battlefield.
"If in the near future I do not come to the Kremlin and speak live next to you, the army will turn its weapons against the Kremlin," he ominously said in the video. The clip has since drawn wide attention, with one version reportedly receiving more than 200,000 likes.
The remarks are highly unusual in a country where criticism of the war is tightly controlled, and dissent inside the military is rarely seen in public.
Lunin, who reportedly led a Russian volunteer battalion in occupied Ukraine until last year, said he was removed after refusing orders. In comments to the independent outlet Agentstvo, he claimed that defence officials visited his home in the Voronezh region after noticing he was posting soldiers' complaints from the front on social media.
Russian military exhausted by ‘meat grinder’ of war
In the video and in later remarks quoted by independent Russian media, Lunin said military personnel were exhausted by what he described as the "meat grinder" of the war. He claimed many soldiers were angry over battlefield losses, poor treatment and punishment for refusing what he called "suicidal orders".
Also read | Russia bans aviation fuel exports till November as Ukraine strikes hit energy infrastructure
"No one wants bloodshed," he said, quoting the message he claimed was passed to him. "Just make clear to the president that there will be total chaos here if this continues."
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'This is not a bluff'
In another post on Telegram, Lunin insisted that he was not bluffing. He said any harm to him or his family should be seen as a "signal" for an uprising.
He also stressed that he was not positioning himself as the leader of any revolt, but only passing on a warning from people inside the system who, according to him, can no longer be ignored. "I’m sending a message, nothing more. I’m not the leader of the uprising. They came to me for one simple reason: because I can’t be bought, because the president heard me".
