Russian flyers who disobeyed orders to attack Wagner forces may be caught up in Putin's dragnet

• Suspicions of disloyalty seemingly extend far beyond senior officials and generals who had direct ties to Prigozhin.
• Some pilots and airmen are said to face questions for refusing orders to fire on the Wagner columns during their coup.

A cloud of suspicion is descending on Russia's vast security state over questions about how thousands of Russian mercenaries could get close enough to threaten Moscow, and those suspicions reportedly extend far beyond just senior officials and generals who had direct ties to the coup leader.

Russian warplanes fired on Wagner Group mercenaries to try to stop their advance over the weekend, but some pilots and airmen face questions for refusing orders to fire. That's according to at least two milbloggers, who are known for reports and commentary based on Russia's side of the war in Ukraine.

"With respect to the pilots who refused to carry out the order to strike at the column, there is also the threat of initiating a criminal case," wrote a blogger who goes by Romanov and who claimed as many as four Russian aircrews disobeyed orders over concerns that their attacks would damage civilian vehicles nearby. The posts do not identify the names of these airmen or their assignments.

Another blogger claimed the report of these investigations was "not fiction."

There are also investigations of the Russian border guards who waved Wagner columns through their checkpoint rather than attempt to resist a larger and more heavily armed force in what would likely have been a suicidal attempt.

Russian officials have been largely quiet about a wide dragnet that appears to be underway as Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to reassert his control in the wake of Yevgeny Prigozhin's armed revolt. Among those apparently facing questions in detention is Gen. Sergei Surovikin, one of the top military commanders in Ukraine who has ties to Wagner and was reportedly aware in advance of the Prigozhin-led mutiny.

The investigations into lower-ranking officers are controversial. Wagner's fighters downed as many as six helicopters and one command aircraft, reportedly killing at least 13 troops, including all 10 airmen aboard an Il-22 airborne command plane. But the FSB state security service closed the criminal case into Prigozhin and his mutineers and allowed them to leave Russia for sanctuary in neighboring Belarus in a deal to avoid further violence that was approved by Putin.

The very different treatment is not sitting well with the military bloggers, who often serve as mouthpieces for the views of Russians troops.

"Tell me, if the criminal case against Prigozhin is closed and all the participants in the rebellion are forgiven, is it possible to save the officers who did not allow bloodshed from such a selective application of criminal law?" one milblogger opined.

And the blogger who had claimed the investigations looking into the actions of Russian aircrews were real pointed out the apparent hypocrisy of prosecuting them while allowing "the main rebel," a.k.a. Prigozhin, to go without punishment for the mutiny.

Putin is said to have discussed assassinating Prigozhin and has indicated the Wagner founder is under investigation for stealing from the Russian government. But for now, Prigozhin appears to be safe in Belarus, though his exact whereabouts are unknown.