A Russian soldier received millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes after threatening Putin with an armed uprising. He demanded a conversation in the Kremlin. Now he has been arrested.
June 29, 2026, 05:03June 29, 2026, 05:12
Ivan Ruslyannikov / ch media
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not tolerate threats.Image: keystone
Exactly three years ago, Vladimir Putin was last threatened with a military uprising: in June 2023, a column of the Wagner Group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin set off towards Moscow to force then Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to resign.
Putin viewed this step as a betrayal, and retaliation was not long in coming: in August 2023, Prigozhin’s plane crashed in central Russia, not far from a presidential residence. Since then, no one in public has dared to threaten the Kremlin with a military uprising. Until now.
Within a few days, videos of the former commander of a volunteer battalion, 39-year-old Alexander Lunin, received more than ten million views on Instagram. The man, whose chest is decorated with numerous awards for his work in the war against Ukraine, has been publishing video messages to Vladimir Putin for days.
Russian soldier Alexander Lunin during a video message to Vladimir Putin.Image: Screenshot/Instagram
According to his own statements, he was trained as a mortar gunner and artilleryman during his military service and was later deployed to the Kursk area, where he suffered a concussion. Lunin explained that he was no longer taking part in the war against Ukraine since he was expelled from the “Bars” unit in 2025. The reason was a video in which he reported that two of his comrades had been sent on a mission without assault rifles.
«There will be a bloodbath in Russia if I am not given the opportunity to tell you publicly what is really happening in the army. Horrible things are happening there,” says Lunin, addressing Putin. “Thousands of our soldiers are currently sitting in illegal detention camps, where they are being punished by their commanders. They rot there, are tortured and mistreated because they refused to carry out senseless suicide orders or hand over their money.
“The army will turn its weapons against the Kremlin”: an “SMO” veteran has threatened Putin with a mutiny.
Lunin from Voronezh region wants a meeting with Putin and a joint live television appearance.
As I’ve said before, Putin is very scared of his army returning home. https://t.co/ajmSyzvOEZ pic.twitter.com/gEO1ENES2m
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 25, 2026
In the end they are simply killed and then they are said to be missing, said Lunin. And further: “If I don’t come to the Kremlin in the near future and can perform live with you there, the army will turn its weapons against the Kremlin.”
Criticism of the treatment of human life
Lunin didn’t appear out of nowhere. He had already appeared in the Russian media several times before with sharp criticism. However, his criticism was not directed against the war in Ukraine itself, but rather against what he saw as the Defense Ministry’s incompetent decisions and the careless treatment of human lives – very similar to Prigozhin’s case three years ago.
«I thank the universe that I did not sign a new contract with the Ministry of Defense. Our children are not needed in this country,” says Lunin. What is needed is “cannon fodder to fight for their interests and the oligarchs’ yachts.” He demands: “Send the children of the oligarchs and officials to war so that they defend your interests – and not our children!”
What Lunin wants to tell Putin corresponds to reality: there are indeed cases of torture, killings and blackmail in the Russian army. There are also numerous complaints among former soldiers about inadequate compensation payments after an injury or disability. However, the Russian president doesn’t want to hear that.
And of course it is not the tone in which one would ask for an audience with Putin: Lunin was taken into custody for eleven days, an acquaintance of the blogger wrote on his Telegram channel. Officials had previously carried out a night-time search of Lunin’s house. Lunin was arrested on the way to Moscow. (schweiztoday.ch)