![]() ![]() And Putin created him to do things for him, but it got to the point where, I think, Prigozhin saw that his influence and power was being pulled away, and he lashed out in this way.įADEL: It does seem like U.S. ![]() So Prigozhin was, essentially, a low-level thug from Saint Petersburg, and, you know, he was in prison for, like, 10 years in the '80s. And so he needs people that he can control and are weak. A dictator doesn't want to keep the best and brightest around 'cause they're a threat. ![]() SIPHER: These people are essentially mob bosses, and they're not necessarily the smartest folks around. They fear that the people aren't going to support them when push comes to shove.įADEL: Prigozhin, what do you think his calculations were? Was it a way to protect himself? Regimes that rule by fear, they live in fear. But this is also part of the problem of Putin creating this system where they repress and oppress the people so that they hold off any kind of protest. It looks like he was hoping people would rally to him, and they didn't. SIPHER: Prigozhin doesn't come out a winner in this either, as, you know, he was trying to actually strengthen Wagner in the system, and it looks like he's weakened it. Like, they have a massive number of nuclear weapons, among other problems.įADEL: What do you think Prigozhin's fate is when he is such a threat to Putin? So Putin has to worry that, you know, if he kills him, there's a lot of people who buy into that strong narrative. He has this strong narrative that the Russian leaders are fat cats with yachts and children in Europe, and they're sending Russian boys to be slaughtered in Ukraine. But if he tries to kill Prigozhin, that's dangerous, too, 'cause Prigozhin has shown himself to have some real populist appeal. You know, one minute he's calling him a scum traitor, and Prigozhin shot down Russian helicopters. You know, if he lets Prigozhin go, he looks weak. JOHN SIPHER: There's a sense of dysfunction in the military in Ukraine, but what this does is it adds a sense of dysfunction and incompetence domestically. So how much did that march toward Moscow, led by a one-time ally, hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin's strongman image? To understand this, I called up John Sipher, who once ran Russia operations for the CIA and is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. A report from The New York Times says that a senior Russian general knew of Yevgeny Prigozhin's plans to stage his rebellion, according to U.S. But in its wake, there are signs of discord in Russia's military. The short mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia is over for now. ![]()
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