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The Prigozhin roadshow isn’t over The Wagner leader is still Russia's real powerbroker

Yevgeny Prigozhin has left Putin exposed. (Stringer/Anadolu/ Getty)

Yevgeny Prigozhin has left Putin exposed. (Stringer/Anadolu/ Getty)


June 26, 2023   8 mins

Waking up on Saturday morning, Putin must have wished he’d kept catering in-house. Only the day before, the Ukraine war seemed to be proceeding relatively well for Russia, at least by the lowered expectations of this stage in the conflict. The Ukrainian counteroffensive had made little progress in its first three weeks trying to breach Russia’s well-prepared defensive lines, and US officials were already briefing not to expect much more. The war had slipped into a tempo favourable to Russia, playing to the great strength of authoritarian systems against democracies: the ability to outlast the fickle whims and short patience of electorates and the politicians catering to them. 

But the brief and spectacular rebellion of Putin’s caterer-in-chief-turned-condottiero, Yevgeny Prigozhin, seemed to suddenly upturn this calculus, highlighting the fragilities inherent in authoritarian regimes. Putin’s attempt to render Russia coup-proof by establishing multiple, rival power structures had created a striking weakness at the heart of his system. The great irony in all this was that the entire purpose of Prigozhin’s Wagner Group mercenary company was to firewall the Russian home front from the human cost of Putin’s foreign adventures, thus ensuring the stability of the regime. By the time Prigozhin’s disaffected warrior band was approaching the gates of Moscow, merrily shooting down the helicopters sent to delay their advance, the disadvantages of this approach appeared to far outweigh the benefits.

Early Western hopes, or fears, that Prigozhin’s escapade heralded either a Kremlin coup or a civil war did not quite capture the essential nature of the events. As the political scientist and civil war theorist, Stathis Kalyvas, observed, “What is going on in Russia is no military coup. Coups tend to be launched at the center seeking to generate cascades of compliance. This is an armed rebellion launched from a peripheral stronghold”, so that it is “hard to see how it could succeed short of mass defections in the Russian military”. But equally, “this is no simple mutiny either as those tend to be local and without broader political aims”. As the political scientist Seva Gunitsky observed on Twitter, “the closer parallel is not the [1991] coup but the Russian peasant rebellions of Razin and Pugachev. The latter especially — a disaffected officer unhappy with the prosecution of a war.” 

Other comparisons, from war-torn and overstretched empires, could be made. The Albanian mercenary commander, Muhammad Ali Pasha, had an ability to outcompete Western rivals and reconquer restive provinces which made him indispensable to the Ottoman empire; Prigozhin has been similarly lavishly rewarded with lucrative monopolies. Prigozhin, just like Muhammad Ali, also used his independent power base to make a strike for the imperial capital, before turning back: and Prigozhin’s dramatic weekend adventure will  similarly remain one of the great what-might-have-beens of history. If Putin’s reliance on deniable and expendable mercenary companies is a product of the postmodern way of war, then it had a curiously premodern outcome. 

Prigozhin’s rebellion may have been brief, but its roots were longstanding. For months, the Wagner leader had utilised his newfound celebrity status to fiercely criticise the Russian Ministry of Defence’s lacklustre prosecution of the war. Accusing his main rivals, Russia’s Defence Minister “the Tuvan degenerate”, Sergei Shoigu, and Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, of poor leadership, cowardice, corruption and betrayal, Prigozhin had claimed that the Russian Ministry of Defence had deliberately starved Wagner of ammunition, emerging as one of Russia’s fiercest nationalist critics of the “fat cats in Moscow” in a surprisingly crowded field.

But the Wagner-led capture of Bakhmut, after a gruelling year-long campaign, seemed, until this weekend, to mark the apotheosis of Prigozhin’s career. Now it had achieved its purpose, at horrific cost, Wagner seemed set to be either redeployed to its lucrative African area of operations or neutered as an independent power structure. But as Wagner forces pulled out from their positions earlier this month, they fought clashes with Russian regulars they claimed had fired on them, capturing a senior officer. The tensions Putin had permitted to escalate within his war cabinet — whether as intentional policy or sheer incompetence must remain a matter of speculation — now looked to be spiralling out of control. 

When the Russian Ministry of Defence published a decree two weeks ago that volunteer militias — like many official Russian statements, it did not mention Wagner by name — would soon come under its direct control, Prigozhin reacted with fury, refusing to come under Shoigu’s command, and again highlighting the incompetence of his new notional superior. In a half-hour Telegram video of unprecedented contempt last Friday, Prigozhin faced the camera with a mug of tea, calmly explaining to his audience — including Putin — that the war was launched under false pretences, purely to enrich oligarchs and boost Shoigu’s career, and that Putin had been catastrophically misled by his own military leadership. 

Then came the purported shelling by the Russian army of Wagner’s positions behind the line in eastern Ukraine, where its mercenaries had been resting after the bloody and exhausting battle for Bakhmut. “Many of our guys died,” Prigozhin thundered on Telegram, “We will make a decision on how to respond to this evil. The next move is ours.”

And so it was. Announcing in an audio message that “the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped”, Prigozhin effectively declared war on Russia’s Ministry of Defence, while maintaining his personal loyalty to Putin: like any premodern rebel, the problem was simply that the Tsar had bad advisors. His forces would depose the military leadership before returning to the front lines: the war would continue, only better run. But first, “justice in the Army will be restored. And after this, justice for the whole of Russia.” In panicked-looking videos, the two generals seen as most sympathetic to Prigozhin, Surovikin and Alexeyev pleaded for him to turn back, to no avail. 

Launching his self-declared March of Justice, columns of Prigozhin’s Wagner fighters crossed the border from Ukraine, and seized the southern military command headquarters in Rostov — the nerve centre of Russia’s war, deploying on the city streets in surreal scenes. There, Prigozhin released videos claiming to have evidence that Russian casualties were three to four times higher than the Ministry of Defence were announcing, and humiliating Russia’s now-captive Deputy Defence Minister General Yunus-bek Yevkurov, chiding him that “guys are dying because you’re throwing them into the meat-grinder, without ammunition, without thought, without any plans [because] you’re just senile clowns”.

Claiming to command a 25,000 strong force, Prigozhin then sent his columns striking north along the M4 highway, bypassing major population centres such as Voronezh in a “thunder run towards Moscow, brushing aside the attack helicopters sent to slow their advance. As Putin gave a short and unconvincing speech, effectively likening himself to Nicholas II and threatening to crush the rebellion before seemingly fleeing the capital, lightly-armed internal security forces set up checkpoints on the city’s outskirts as Moscow residents received robocalls instructing them to support their liberators. The gambit was so successful, it seemed as if it must have been long-planned. 

But the denouement, when it came, seemed anticlimactic: in negotiations reportedly overseen by Belarus’s strongman, Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to turn his forces back, and Moscow’s newly-erected defences were dismantled. Taking the applause of crowds in Rostov– in scenes which the Kremlin will have watched with alarm — Prigozhin went off to exile in Belarus and the immediate crisis had been averted. But what does it all mean?

The opaque and diffuse nature of power in Putin’s Kremlin means that it is impossible to make any assertions or predictions with any certainty: no one watching from the outside, tracking Prigozhin’s One Day That Shook The World on social media, knew what would happen next, and it is doubtful that any of the main participants themselves knew how the warlord’s daring gambit would end. But the speed with which Wagner forces approached the capital showed that the country’s internal defences, depleted by the deployment of the vast bulk of its army to the trenches of southern and eastern Ukraine, are strikingly weak. Rostov itself, the heavily militarised hub of Russia’s war in Ukraine, was surrendered without a shot fired. The lightly-armed Rosgvardia internal defence forces seen deploying around the approaches to Moscow were designed to protect Putin’s regime from political disorder, but they would have struggled to put up much of a defence against Wagner’s hardened troops and the heavy armour they were rushing to the capital. 

After initial silence, Putin’s Chechen satrap, Ramzan Kadyrov, deployed a small convoy to Rostov to confront Wagner and flew troops to buttress Moscow’s defences: true to form, they achieved little, but the sight of auxiliaries from the imperial periphery summoned to the defence of the threatened metropole was a striking one, which may be repeated in Russia’s future. But apart from sporadic and largely ineffective aerial attack, the Wagner columns met no internal resistance: whether the security forces along their way felt outmatched, or whether middle-ranking officers felt sympathetic to Prigozhin’s campaign against their leadership, or simply chose to see who would emerge strongest before committing themselves, will now be an object of intense interest — within Russia as well as abroad. 

Both Shoigu and Gerasimov have, at the time of writing, been notable for their absence. Speculation is rife that the condition for Prigozhin’s standing down Wagner was their replacement. Who replaces them, if this is indeed true, will affect the outcome of the war: but it is impossible to yet say to whose advantage. The events of Saturday’s rebellion were so unexpected, and so brief, that the Ukrainians were unable to exploit them to their advantage, at least immediately. But Ukraine’s leadership, and its Western backers, unnerved by the so-far disappointing results of their counteroffensive, will take heart that Putin’s hold on power appears so brittle. 

The war is imposing huge human and financial costs on both countries, but in terms of political will, Ukraine now appears by far the stronger party. Wavering Western allies will surely assess that Putin’s near-escape from disaster this weekend will alter his strategic calculus, by showing that the war’s continuation threatens the stability of his rule in ways he had not anticipated. By showing that there are real costs to Putin’s seeming strategy of waiting out Ukraine’s Western backers, the weekend’s events will increase his desire to bring the war to a swift and palatable conclusion: that may make peace talks more likely, but it may also heighten the risk of nuclear escalation, already a discussion reaching fever pitch within the Russian security establishment. In determining which of the two outcomes is most likely, the opinion of China, surely alarmed by its partner’s sudden evidence of instability, will be a major deciding factor. 

With Russia and China already rivals in Central Asia, Putin will not have been pleased by the noncommittal response to his moment of crisis from his former strategic dependent in Kazakhstan. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s government only survived internal disorder through Putin’s intervention; the swift and painless execution of this mission once seemed to promise similar success in Kyiv. But already the junior partner in the alliance, reduced to a cheap source of mineral wealth for the hungry rising hegemon and a handy distraction for the West, Russia’s growing comparative weakness may alter the calculus of the strategic relationship, if not for Putin then for whoever eventually succeeds him: a permanent role as China’s Belarus is not what the war was intended to achieve. 

In Belarus itself, for Lukashenko — if his role defusing the conflict does in fact reflect reality — the chance to demonstrate his utility to his Russian saviour may outweigh the inconvenience of hosting his volatile guest. But for Prigozhin, a precarious life in exile at the Minsk court of Putin’s puppet king is not an enticing prospect compared to the riches and glory that may still be attainable in Africa, if now under a tighter leash. 

It is impossible to know whether Prigozhin’s weekend adventure will make him a major player in Russia’s future, or award him a death sentence: but if he wanted Putin’s attention, he certainly got it. One of the prime beneficiaries of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Prigozhin is also a fierce critic of the war’s prosecution and founding justifications. His critique of Russia’s sclerotic defence establishment, and its slow incapacity to react to events, was dramatically proved by his own actions. The former hot dog seller, previously accused of running backchannels to Ukraine’s intelligence services, is rightly vilified by the West for Wagner’s long list of human rights abuses, but he also must now look tempting as a means to pressure the Kremlin. 

When, for all Prigozhin’s professions of loyalty, Putin condemned the rebellion as treason that would be firmly crushed, the Wagner leader did not back down, but continued on towards Moscow. Instead of a useful alternative power centre within Putin’s regime, Prigozhin now appeared an alternative power centre to it. This dramatic Saturday roadshow simultaneously humiliated Putin, and suddenly established Prigozhin’s own position — if only for a day — as the de facto second most powerful man in Russia. His survival will now depend on whether Putin finds the risks embodied in Prigozhin, greater than the potential rewards he promises if only given the opportunity to expand his role. The feared strongman looked weak and indecisive: his court’s once-useful servant had now thrust himself forward as the empire’s powerbroker. An increasingly frail-looking Putin has no obvious successor: looking weak and helpless, he was forced to watch the opening scenes of his succession crisis playing out while still alive. Western observers cheering on the fragility of Putin’s hold on power should be careful what they wish for.


Aris Roussinos is an UnHerd columnist and a former war reporter.

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Bruce V
Bruce V
1 year ago

Good article IMHO. Appreciate the authors work.
Bizarre sequence of events anyway you try to slice it.

tom j
tom j
1 year ago
Reply to  Bruce V

I think we should all admit we haven’t a clue what is going on.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  tom j

Here is something….What if Putin is playing the West? The thing is, Wagner is now in Belarus. That’s a large, super experienced military force that’s now potentially being stationed 150 kilometers from Kyiv. If this NATO meeting on the 11th of July is about escalation…. I’m just sayin’.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
Judy Englander
Judy Englander
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

1) Wagner could have been moved to Belarus without taking Rostov, without marching on Moscow and without shooting down several valuable helicopters and an electronic intelligence plane, killing around eleven servicemen; 2) It’s not at all clear that Wagner is going to Belarus, only that Prigozhin is supposed to be going there.

Last edited 1 year ago by Judy Englander
Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

True… although, are you sure helicopters being shot down is true? Also, did anyone die? What’s true?

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

True… although, are you sure helicopters being shot down is true? Also, did anyone die? What’s true?

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

..my thoughts precisely.. with Ukraine keen to exploit the vacuum created in the Donbas, all eyes off Kyev.
Or it might be to lure Ukrainians into the void, ie a trap? Certainly it gives Putin’s generals more options and forces Ukraine to spread its much depleted forces more thinly. Wheels within wheels..

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Liam O'Mahony

And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…
Back on Planet Earth, Vagner remains off the front lines. Even if significant numbers move to Belarus, well, if the Russia’s best trained armoured forces couldn’t break through in the north, it’s doubtful that guys trained to fight third world fighters will do any better.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Liam O'Mahony

And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…
Back on Planet Earth, Vagner remains off the front lines. Even if significant numbers move to Belarus, well, if the Russia’s best trained armoured forces couldn’t break through in the north, it’s doubtful that guys trained to fight third world fighters will do any better.

Judy Englander
Judy Englander
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

1) Wagner could have been moved to Belarus without taking Rostov, without marching on Moscow and without shooting down several valuable helicopters and an electronic intelligence plane, killing around eleven servicemen; 2) It’s not at all clear that Wagner is going to Belarus, only that Prigozhin is supposed to be going there.

Last edited 1 year ago by Judy Englander
Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

..my thoughts precisely.. with Ukraine keen to exploit the vacuum created in the Donbas, all eyes off Kyev.
Or it might be to lure Ukrainians into the void, ie a trap? Certainly it gives Putin’s generals more options and forces Ukraine to spread its much depleted forces more thinly. Wheels within wheels..

stephen archer
stephen archer
1 year ago
Reply to  tom j

Happy to admit it but others commenting seem to know better. For the last 60 hours or so everyone seems to be interpreting what’s coming out of Russia at face value and it certainly is confusing but before that most believed it was either blatant lies or fantasy. Why the sudden change?

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  tom j

Here is something….What if Putin is playing the West? The thing is, Wagner is now in Belarus. That’s a large, super experienced military force that’s now potentially being stationed 150 kilometers from Kyiv. If this NATO meeting on the 11th of July is about escalation…. I’m just sayin’.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
stephen archer
stephen archer
1 year ago
Reply to  tom j

Happy to admit it but others commenting seem to know better. For the last 60 hours or so everyone seems to be interpreting what’s coming out of Russia at face value and it certainly is confusing but before that most believed it was either blatant lies or fantasy. Why the sudden change?

tom j
tom j
1 year ago
Reply to  Bruce V

I think we should all admit we haven’t a clue what is going on.

Bruce V
Bruce V
1 year ago

Good article IMHO. Appreciate the authors work.
Bizarre sequence of events anyway you try to slice it.

Prashant Kotak
Prashant Kotak
1 year ago

“…It is impossible to know whether Prigozhin’s weekend adventure will make him a major player in Russia’s future, or award him a death sentence…”

I cannot see how it can be anything but the latter, he has nowhere to run. A return to Russia is pretty much out no matter what happens to Putin. He will now have lost the entirety of his wealth that was not outside Russia. He cannot survive in Belarus without maintaining a private army and the chance of Lukashenko allowing that is zero. If Putin survives for any length of time Prigozhin would quite likely get poisoned soon enough. The idea of an escape to Africa is fantasy – in a land full of mafiosi who are well ensconced, Prigozhin managing to establish himself in any context before he is divested of his wealth and gets killed is I would say unlikely in the extreme. It would be different if it was Kadyrov, who has the lawless Chechen countryside he can slink away into, plus, as a muslim brother there would be someone who would take him in, like Saudi Arabia did with Idi Amin. Prigozhin on other hand is a sitting duck exposed out in the open.

Stephanie Surface
Stephanie Surface
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

Prigozhin will end up either “accidentally” falling out of a window or being poisoned. A third possibility is, that a disenchanted Wagner soldier (and there are quite a few) will shoot him. No way he will have a future part in Russian politics or military.
On the other hand the whole story is so bizarre and unreal, especially that Putin will forget and forgive (he never does). I yesterday read that a German ex general and military historian thinks, that Prigozhin was part of a plot initiated by Putin to see which military brass and close associates will stay on the side lines and would happily watch Putin’s demise. These “traitors” will by now have been spotted and are awaiting a bad ending.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago

A definite possibility.. it may have been the sole reason or just one of several? Poo bear is a wily bear!

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago

A definite possibility.. it may have been the sole reason or just one of several? Poo bear is a wily bear!

Angelique Todesco
Angelique Todesco
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

I think in his position I would be tempted to make a deal with Ukraine to switch sides in exchange for immunity from former war crimes and turn his army against Russia, at least then he might be less likely to learn about the finer mechanics of defenestration.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

He might have a passport for an other country

But I think his days are numbered

Dominic A
Dominic A
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

Perhaps Prighozin has kompromat on Putin, and just delivered the classic – ‘if anything happens to me, certain information will be released to the media’. Afterall, he was Putuns caterer, turned dirty jobs man…

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

Unless the cats paw is required further.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Bret Larson

Did the Prighozin people pick up a nuclear weapon or two at the storage facility the Wagner Group passed in the direction of Moscow?

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Bret Larson

Did the Prighozin people pick up a nuclear weapon or two at the storage facility the Wagner Group passed in the direction of Moscow?

Stephanie Surface
Stephanie Surface
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

Prigozhin will end up either “accidentally” falling out of a window or being poisoned. A third possibility is, that a disenchanted Wagner soldier (and there are quite a few) will shoot him. No way he will have a future part in Russian politics or military.
On the other hand the whole story is so bizarre and unreal, especially that Putin will forget and forgive (he never does). I yesterday read that a German ex general and military historian thinks, that Prigozhin was part of a plot initiated by Putin to see which military brass and close associates will stay on the side lines and would happily watch Putin’s demise. These “traitors” will by now have been spotted and are awaiting a bad ending.

Angelique Todesco
Angelique Todesco
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

I think in his position I would be tempted to make a deal with Ukraine to switch sides in exchange for immunity from former war crimes and turn his army against Russia, at least then he might be less likely to learn about the finer mechanics of defenestration.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

He might have a passport for an other country

But I think his days are numbered

Dominic A
Dominic A
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

Perhaps Prighozin has kompromat on Putin, and just delivered the classic – ‘if anything happens to me, certain information will be released to the media’. Afterall, he was Putuns caterer, turned dirty jobs man…

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  Prashant Kotak

Unless the cats paw is required further.

Prashant Kotak
Prashant Kotak
1 year ago

“…It is impossible to know whether Prigozhin’s weekend adventure will make him a major player in Russia’s future, or award him a death sentence…”

I cannot see how it can be anything but the latter, he has nowhere to run. A return to Russia is pretty much out no matter what happens to Putin. He will now have lost the entirety of his wealth that was not outside Russia. He cannot survive in Belarus without maintaining a private army and the chance of Lukashenko allowing that is zero. If Putin survives for any length of time Prigozhin would quite likely get poisoned soon enough. The idea of an escape to Africa is fantasy – in a land full of mafiosi who are well ensconced, Prigozhin managing to establish himself in any context before he is divested of his wealth and gets killed is I would say unlikely in the extreme. It would be different if it was Kadyrov, who has the lawless Chechen countryside he can slink away into, plus, as a muslim brother there would be someone who would take him in, like Saudi Arabia did with Idi Amin. Prigozhin on other hand is a sitting duck exposed out in the open.

N T
N T
1 year ago

what a bizarre 24 hours.
if 25,000 troops could do that, imagine what 25,000 of someone else’s troops could do.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  N T

Apparently they were spread all over, and he only had 2000 or so near him at the time.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  N T

..I doubt it was anything more than a wily Russian ruse..

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  N T

Apparently they were spread all over, and he only had 2000 or so near him at the time.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  N T

..I doubt it was anything more than a wily Russian ruse..

N T
N T
1 year ago

what a bizarre 24 hours.
if 25,000 troops could do that, imagine what 25,000 of someone else’s troops could do.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Given that a similar failed putsch eventually led to the collapse of the Tsarist regime in 1917, we have to see this as a serious blow to Putin.
Almost totally isolated from the real world, up till now Putin has clung to his mystical vision that Russia always wins in the end (factually false, of course. Russia has lost more wars than it won since Peter the Great. It’s just that most Russians in power are ignorant of their own history).
But now, reality has punched its way through the mysticism. No Russian knows how to win this war, or even how to avoid defeat. The West’s will has proven stronger than Putin’s, and hanging on til the West “tires” just loses more territory.
Putin may eventually blow the nuclear plant. But that will totally isolate him. Even China cannot stand for that.
Prigozhin’s contribution was to finally reveal to Putin that his plan can’t work. He now has no rational courses of action save withdrawal.
So now, the only real question is: is Putin still rational?

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
Tim Lever
Tim Lever
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

More Russophobia from Aris. Remember swastikas just prove your a badass not a Nazi

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Tim Lever

But the swastika tattoos on Prigozhin’s right-hand man, Utkin, probably do signify which side in this conflict are the real Nazis.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Tim Lever

But the swastika tattoos on Prigozhin’s right-hand man, Utkin, probably do signify which side in this conflict are the real Nazis.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Yes.. rational, smart, wily, intelligent, healthy and relatively young.. fully the obverse of Biden.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

I dont think that Putin thinks Russia always wins. He harks back to Stalin defeating Germany because he knows this is a fatal weakness for the West.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Stalin’s been a long time gone–and the brutal system that enabled him to sacrifice 28 million to defeat Russia has completely vanished.
Doubtful if modern Russian soldiers would clear mines with their feet, as Soviet soldiers did in WW2.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

I really doubt Putin is thinking this way. Especially not with no lend-lease.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

I really doubt Putin is thinking this way. Especially not with no lend-lease.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Stalin’s been a long time gone–and the brutal system that enabled him to sacrifice 28 million to defeat Russia has completely vanished.
Doubtful if modern Russian soldiers would clear mines with their feet, as Soviet soldiers did in WW2.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Just because the ones paying the price complain, doesnt mean it wont work.

Tim Lever
Tim Lever
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

More Russophobia from Aris. Remember swastikas just prove your a badass not a Nazi

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Yes.. rational, smart, wily, intelligent, healthy and relatively young.. fully the obverse of Biden.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

I dont think that Putin thinks Russia always wins. He harks back to Stalin defeating Germany because he knows this is a fatal weakness for the West.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Just because the ones paying the price complain, doesnt mean it wont work.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Given that a similar failed putsch eventually led to the collapse of the Tsarist regime in 1917, we have to see this as a serious blow to Putin.
Almost totally isolated from the real world, up till now Putin has clung to his mystical vision that Russia always wins in the end (factually false, of course. Russia has lost more wars than it won since Peter the Great. It’s just that most Russians in power are ignorant of their own history).
But now, reality has punched its way through the mysticism. No Russian knows how to win this war, or even how to avoid defeat. The West’s will has proven stronger than Putin’s, and hanging on til the West “tires” just loses more territory.
Putin may eventually blow the nuclear plant. But that will totally isolate him. Even China cannot stand for that.
Prigozhin’s contribution was to finally reveal to Putin that his plan can’t work. He now has no rational courses of action save withdrawal.
So now, the only real question is: is Putin still rational?

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
David Barnett
David Barnett
1 year ago

The most interesting interpretation of the Prigozhin “coup” attempt is that Prigozhin is, and always has been Putin’s creature and that the “coup” was Putin Mazkirovka to flush out disloyal elements and expose Western government interference channels.
Internally, Putin is strengthened. Putin is immensely popular in Russia, and an extremely canny operator. Underestimate him at you peril. As far as I can see, he is playing the western elites’ hatred of him brilliantly. Any interpretation suggesting Putin is losing control of Russia is delusional.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  David Barnett

I concur.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  David Barnett

Putin is immensely popular…because the people in Rostov were celebrating Vagner as they marched on Moscow?
And if Putin is “playing the western elites brilliantly” how come he abandoned Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson? How come the Russian Navy lost the Moskva? How come bridges going in and out of Crimea were rendered inoperable?
Pls continue to believe this–the surprise at the end will be all the greater.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

You don’t kill a chicken by plucking it.

Those who are plucking are easy targets.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

You don’t kill a chicken by plucking it.

Those who are plucking are easy targets.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  David Barnett

I concur.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  David Barnett

Putin is immensely popular…because the people in Rostov were celebrating Vagner as they marched on Moscow?
And if Putin is “playing the western elites brilliantly” how come he abandoned Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson? How come the Russian Navy lost the Moskva? How come bridges going in and out of Crimea were rendered inoperable?
Pls continue to believe this–the surprise at the end will be all the greater.

David Barnett
David Barnett
1 year ago

The most interesting interpretation of the Prigozhin “coup” attempt is that Prigozhin is, and always has been Putin’s creature and that the “coup” was Putin Mazkirovka to flush out disloyal elements and expose Western government interference channels.
Internally, Putin is strengthened. Putin is immensely popular in Russia, and an extremely canny operator. Underestimate him at you peril. As far as I can see, he is playing the western elites’ hatred of him brilliantly. Any interpretation suggesting Putin is losing control of Russia is delusional.

Rupert Carnegie
Rupert Carnegie
1 year ago

Interesting article. I have no inside information but the sequence of events suggested to me a “last throw of the dice” by an increasingly isolated, marginalised and desperate individual.

The immediate question that intrigues me is whether Kiev deliberately paused their counter-offensive while this drama played out – hoping it would lead to Russian forces being withdrawn from the front line to suppress Wagner. If so, perhaps we will now see a reinvigoration of their attacks southwards.

Last edited 1 year ago by Rupert Carnegie
Rupert Carnegie
Rupert Carnegie
1 year ago

Interesting article. I have no inside information but the sequence of events suggested to me a “last throw of the dice” by an increasingly isolated, marginalised and desperate individual.

The immediate question that intrigues me is whether Kiev deliberately paused their counter-offensive while this drama played out – hoping it would lead to Russian forces being withdrawn from the front line to suppress Wagner. If so, perhaps we will now see a reinvigoration of their attacks southwards.

Last edited 1 year ago by Rupert Carnegie
Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago

Pugachev, an excellent comparison. Still I wish writers would explain further the many talented nature of this man: prisoner in Gorbachov’s time, baker or something to Putin, something which is always announced but never explained how the chef morphed into running a troll factory as good or better than that orchestrated by the might of the British government, the GDU: suddenly the leader of pretty large mercenary armies, smaller than the militias owned by Poroshenko’s governers’ militias but big enough to wage war in several African countries at once. Does he have fabulous organising skills? Is he particularly good at selecting staff? A true Renaissance man.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago

Pugachev, an excellent comparison. Still I wish writers would explain further the many talented nature of this man: prisoner in Gorbachov’s time, baker or something to Putin, something which is always announced but never explained how the chef morphed into running a troll factory as good or better than that orchestrated by the might of the British government, the GDU: suddenly the leader of pretty large mercenary armies, smaller than the militias owned by Poroshenko’s governers’ militias but big enough to wage war in several African countries at once. Does he have fabulous organising skills? Is he particularly good at selecting staff? A true Renaissance man.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

The best part of all this is that the only competent Russian general, Surovikin, was also much too close to Vagner.
Putin is now so paranoid, he will never put him in any position of power again.
Thankfully, incompetents like Shoigu and Gerasimov will stay put until they die.
Along with the most incompetent of them all: V. V. Putin.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

The best part of all this is that the only competent Russian general, Surovikin, was also much too close to Vagner.
Putin is now so paranoid, he will never put him in any position of power again.
Thankfully, incompetents like Shoigu and Gerasimov will stay put until they die.
Along with the most incompetent of them all: V. V. Putin.

J Bryant
J Bryant
1 year ago

The explanation I haven’t seen discussed in this article or elsewhere (perhaps because it is unrealistic) is that Prigozhin was encouraged by the CIA, and perhaps Ukraine’s security services, to attempt a rebellion that would supposedly trigger an uprising by anti-Putin forces in Russia and perhaps leave Prigozhin in charge.
From the perspective of the West, this type of uprising would succeed even if it failed because it would politically weaken Putin (as it appears to have done). I’m reminded of the drone attacks on the Kremlin that preceded the Ukrainian spring offensive: done to humiliate Putin and demoralize his supporters and military.
I suppose the counterargument to this possibility is who in their right mind would want Prigozhin in charge?
As the author notes, now we must all wait to see how the consequences of this farce play out.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

I am always surprised to see Western influence/money/intelligence, or at least a foreign state’s support sought behind events in Eastern/Central Europe. Why would Prigozhin trust the CIA or Ukraine’s security services?

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Yes, he was absolutely flipped. According to Scott Ritter the information is apparently that it was mainly the Brits and MI6. The CIA was apparently also involved. It appears that Prigozhin was also broadcasting Ukraine talking points about how the war was going as well, and there had been some Ukrainian infiltrators that had been captured in Moscow two days before who were supposed to be part of this, by creating chaos there. We also now know that before it even happened, US intelligence informed congress. So, everyone knew about it before it happened.
It appears that since the sanctions didn’t work, and the Spring offensive is not working that this is the last big hope. Destabilization from the inside, or at least with the optics of this, making nations think Russia is on shaky ground, and to abandon them. Here is my question. Are we to actually believe that Russian security services didn’t also know exactly what was going on? That this Prigozhin was not a closely monitored man? 

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Scott Ritter. OK

zee upītis
zee upītis
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Gotta love those people, it’s always the West orchestrating everything. What a boring world you must live in. First of all, Prigozhin would have never listened to what the CIA says, secondly if anything, such a chaos in a nuclear country would have made CIA uneasy.

Last edited 1 year ago by zee upītis
Terry M
Terry M
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

Yes, the same demented morons who cannot control our Southern border can direct military ballets in far-off lands. Amazing talent, that.

Tim Lever
Tim Lever
1 year ago
Reply to  Terry M

Likewise Putin can’t control a random madman in his own country but supposedly had the POTUS as his secret agent for 4 years.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  Terry M

I think you must be assuming senior CIA guys are raving lunatics, dangerous psychopaths – do you have any evidence for that?

Tim Lever
Tim Lever
1 year ago
Reply to  Terry M

Likewise Putin can’t control a random madman in his own country but supposedly had the POTUS as his secret agent for 4 years.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  Terry M

I think you must be assuming senior CIA guys are raving lunatics, dangerous psychopaths – do you have any evidence for that?

Terry M
Terry M
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

Yes, the same demented morons who cannot control our Southern border can direct military ballets in far-off lands. Amazing talent, that.

Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Scott Ritter. OK

zee upītis
zee upītis
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Gotta love those people, it’s always the West orchestrating everything. What a boring world you must live in. First of all, Prigozhin would have never listened to what the CIA says, secondly if anything, such a chaos in a nuclear country would have made CIA uneasy.

Last edited 1 year ago by zee upītis
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Oooh, CIA !!!
The CIA must find it hilarious that it is deemed an all-powerful organization that can actually infiltrate various parts of the Russian military, to include getting the ear of Prigozhin himself.
Prigozhin’s talking points, that Putin’s invasion was unjustified is universally available throughout the internet, and any Russian soldier has learned it from talking to Ukrainian civilians.
It doesn’t take the CIA to say that the King–and Putin–have no clothes.

Peter Buchan
Peter Buchan
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

My my – just look at all the articles! Monday is not only (a bumper) Putin day at UnHerd, but sets a new standard for hand-wringing and prognostication.
Friction de guerre Mr Logan. The facts of what exactly happened, and why, will out eventually, of course. I certainly don’t have them. But I will offer this for UnHerd readers to ruminate on:
The world has seen a proliferation of PMCs. Many reasons, but one of them is that cultural shifts, globalisation and the internet have undermined the support of the general public to get caught up in wars and/or the military. A quick peek at how hard it’s become to recruit in the US, EU and elsewhere makes this clear. Russia is not the only user of PMCs. PMCs are unstable grenades in the hands that hold them. Before we look too smugly at what happened with Wagner, consider the drama and intrigue that surrounded, just for example, Erik Prince and Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Prigozhin-grenade threatened to detonate – then did – but until I see hard evidence to the contrary it certainly seems, on the face of it, to have been more of a “family squabble” in a house under intense – external – pressure.
The SMO will continue (unfortunately but necessarily). Ukraine will be defeated and is unlikely to survive as a state when the dust settles. Most importantly: all of this could, and should, have been prevented.
Those smugly insisting that Russia had territorial ambitions for the Donbas need to explain the now-verified existence of a – signed! – draft Istanbul peace treaty in which the Donbas remained within Ukraine along with security guarantees from the West.
Ah, but for that slick Mr. Johnson…

Jeff Watkins
Jeff Watkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Buchan

Totally agree this is more of a family squabble. After all Prigozhin’s contract was being terminated on July 1st after he and his troops had given their all in taking Bachmut. I’m not suprised he was hopping mad with the MOD. As you say the defeat of Ukraine is inevitable.

Judy Englander
Judy Englander
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Buchan

I’m surprised to read that draft treaties are signed. By whom? Do they carry any real weight?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

Draft treaties weren’t signed.
Another Kremlin False Flag.

Judy Englander
Judy Englander
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Of course they weren’t. A draft treaty would not be signed by heads of state.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

It must be there–because there is no evidence for it !

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

It must be there–because there is no evidence for it !

Judy Englander
Judy Englander
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Of course they weren’t. A draft treaty would not be signed by heads of state.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Judy Englander

Draft treaties weren’t signed.
Another Kremlin False Flag.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Buchan

Russia’ s problem is: 1) Russian ignorance of what happens when you use mercenaries 2) Their own dysfunctional society
If Russians had any knowledge of European history, they would know that mercenaries are impossible to control in the long run. they eventually caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and led to a total sack of Rome in 1527. That’s why no one uses them. Blackwater was an abberation, and no one was dumb enough in the West to give them heavy weapons.
The real problem is: it’s impossible for Russians to gain a real knowledge of history. In Russia, the only thing that matters is sucking up to the one above you who has total control over your life. They thus are excellent readers of human emotion (producing great writers, naturally) but have little if any knowledge of anything else, like strategy, tactics, economics, and world politics.
That’s why they die like flies in every war. They are a uniquely dysfunctional civilization.
Need to study them some to understand.

Jeff Watkins
Jeff Watkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Buchan

Totally agree this is more of a family squabble. After all Prigozhin’s contract was being terminated on July 1st after he and his troops had given their all in taking Bachmut. I’m not suprised he was hopping mad with the MOD. As you say the defeat of Ukraine is inevitable.

Judy Englander
Judy Englander
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Buchan

I’m surprised to read that draft treaties are signed. By whom? Do they carry any real weight?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Buchan

Russia’ s problem is: 1) Russian ignorance of what happens when you use mercenaries 2) Their own dysfunctional society
If Russians had any knowledge of European history, they would know that mercenaries are impossible to control in the long run. they eventually caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and led to a total sack of Rome in 1527. That’s why no one uses them. Blackwater was an abberation, and no one was dumb enough in the West to give them heavy weapons.
The real problem is: it’s impossible for Russians to gain a real knowledge of history. In Russia, the only thing that matters is sucking up to the one above you who has total control over your life. They thus are excellent readers of human emotion (producing great writers, naturally) but have little if any knowledge of anything else, like strategy, tactics, economics, and world politics.
That’s why they die like flies in every war. They are a uniquely dysfunctional civilization.
Need to study them some to understand.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Well the New York Times reported that: “U.S. spy agencies had indications days earlier that Mr. Prigozhin was planning something and worked to refine that material into a finished assessment, officials said.”
They also said: “While it is not clear exactly when the United States first learned of the plot, intelligence officials conducted briefings on Wednesday with administration and defense officials. On Thursday, as additional confirmation of the plot came in, intelligence officials informed a narrow group of congressional leaders, according to officials familiar with the briefings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.”
So, according to the Times, they informed congress… Now, how can U.S. spy agencies know about this stuff, to the point that they are briefing select members of congress about it before it even happens?
Also, right as the Wagner events were coming to a close, Russia releases a statement mocking the CIA’s past black ops failures such as the Bay of Pigs.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

And the CIA’s prediction that Putin would invade–when you and everyone else said he wouldn’t–was another Bay of Pigs?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

And the CIA’s prediction that Putin would invade–when you and everyone else said he wouldn’t–was another Bay of Pigs?

Peter Buchan
Peter Buchan
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

My my – just look at all the articles! Monday is not only (a bumper) Putin day at UnHerd, but sets a new standard for hand-wringing and prognostication.
Friction de guerre Mr Logan. The facts of what exactly happened, and why, will out eventually, of course. I certainly don’t have them. But I will offer this for UnHerd readers to ruminate on:
The world has seen a proliferation of PMCs. Many reasons, but one of them is that cultural shifts, globalisation and the internet have undermined the support of the general public to get caught up in wars and/or the military. A quick peek at how hard it’s become to recruit in the US, EU and elsewhere makes this clear. Russia is not the only user of PMCs. PMCs are unstable grenades in the hands that hold them. Before we look too smugly at what happened with Wagner, consider the drama and intrigue that surrounded, just for example, Erik Prince and Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Prigozhin-grenade threatened to detonate – then did – but until I see hard evidence to the contrary it certainly seems, on the face of it, to have been more of a “family squabble” in a house under intense – external – pressure.
The SMO will continue (unfortunately but necessarily). Ukraine will be defeated and is unlikely to survive as a state when the dust settles. Most importantly: all of this could, and should, have been prevented.
Those smugly insisting that Russia had territorial ambitions for the Donbas need to explain the now-verified existence of a – signed! – draft Istanbul peace treaty in which the Donbas remained within Ukraine along with security guarantees from the West.
Ah, but for that slick Mr. Johnson…

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Well the New York Times reported that: “U.S. spy agencies had indications days earlier that Mr. Prigozhin was planning something and worked to refine that material into a finished assessment, officials said.”
They also said: “While it is not clear exactly when the United States first learned of the plot, intelligence officials conducted briefings on Wednesday with administration and defense officials. On Thursday, as additional confirmation of the plot came in, intelligence officials informed a narrow group of congressional leaders, according to officials familiar with the briefings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.”
So, according to the Times, they informed congress… Now, how can U.S. spy agencies know about this stuff, to the point that they are briefing select members of congress about it before it even happens?
Also, right as the Wagner events were coming to a close, Russia releases a statement mocking the CIA’s past black ops failures such as the Bay of Pigs.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

The CIA would normally have a “burn after reading” end game, ie a mechanism to kill Prigozhin after he had done his treachery.. so you may well be right. However, I suspect a Russian ruse rather than a CIA coup.. but who knows? wheels within wheels eh?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Liam O'Mahony

It’s a whole lot more restful (and reliable) to accept the most likely explanation, than to postulate unprovable conspiracy theories. It’s actually the basis of all modern Western Thought.
It’s also why Marxism rots the mind.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Liam O'Mahony

It’s a whole lot more restful (and reliable) to accept the most likely explanation, than to postulate unprovable conspiracy theories. It’s actually the basis of all modern Western Thought.
It’s also why Marxism rots the mind.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

I am always surprised to see Western influence/money/intelligence, or at least a foreign state’s support sought behind events in Eastern/Central Europe. Why would Prigozhin trust the CIA or Ukraine’s security services?

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Yes, he was absolutely flipped. According to Scott Ritter the information is apparently that it was mainly the Brits and MI6. The CIA was apparently also involved. It appears that Prigozhin was also broadcasting Ukraine talking points about how the war was going as well, and there had been some Ukrainian infiltrators that had been captured in Moscow two days before who were supposed to be part of this, by creating chaos there. We also now know that before it even happened, US intelligence informed congress. So, everyone knew about it before it happened.
It appears that since the sanctions didn’t work, and the Spring offensive is not working that this is the last big hope. Destabilization from the inside, or at least with the optics of this, making nations think Russia is on shaky ground, and to abandon them. Here is my question. Are we to actually believe that Russian security services didn’t also know exactly what was going on? That this Prigozhin was not a closely monitored man? 

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Oooh, CIA !!!
The CIA must find it hilarious that it is deemed an all-powerful organization that can actually infiltrate various parts of the Russian military, to include getting the ear of Prigozhin himself.
Prigozhin’s talking points, that Putin’s invasion was unjustified is universally available throughout the internet, and any Russian soldier has learned it from talking to Ukrainian civilians.
It doesn’t take the CIA to say that the King–and Putin–have no clothes.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  J Bryant

The CIA would normally have a “burn after reading” end game, ie a mechanism to kill Prigozhin after he had done his treachery.. so you may well be right. However, I suspect a Russian ruse rather than a CIA coup.. but who knows? wheels within wheels eh?

J Bryant
J Bryant
1 year ago

The explanation I haven’t seen discussed in this article or elsewhere (perhaps because it is unrealistic) is that Prigozhin was encouraged by the CIA, and perhaps Ukraine’s security services, to attempt a rebellion that would supposedly trigger an uprising by anti-Putin forces in Russia and perhaps leave Prigozhin in charge.
From the perspective of the West, this type of uprising would succeed even if it failed because it would politically weaken Putin (as it appears to have done). I’m reminded of the drone attacks on the Kremlin that preceded the Ukrainian spring offensive: done to humiliate Putin and demoralize his supporters and military.
I suppose the counterargument to this possibility is who in their right mind would want Prigozhin in charge?
As the author notes, now we must all wait to see how the consequences of this farce play out.

George Knight
George Knight
1 year ago

The beaming photo of Prigozhin, after calling off his march on Moscow when he had reached Tula, surely says it all! He is a big winner in all of this. Putin, Shoigu and Gerasimov are big losers.
All that remains to be seen is what prizes have been showered on Prigozhin and what fate awaits the losers. And, most importantly, who will replace Putin, which is unlikely to be Prigozhin, and when will this happen. Quite a diversion for the Special Military Operation.

George Knight
George Knight
1 year ago

The beaming photo of Prigozhin, after calling off his march on Moscow when he had reached Tula, surely says it all! He is a big winner in all of this. Putin, Shoigu and Gerasimov are big losers.
All that remains to be seen is what prizes have been showered on Prigozhin and what fate awaits the losers. And, most importantly, who will replace Putin, which is unlikely to be Prigozhin, and when will this happen. Quite a diversion for the Special Military Operation.

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
1 year ago

A big article based on almost nothing

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
1 year ago

A big article based on almost nothing

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago

As Russians used to say, “Better the Czar you know.”

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago

As Russians used to say, “Better the Czar you know.”

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

From the lack of support (and defence) of Putin during the putsch, right up to the time Prigozhin realized taking Moscow was impossible, we now see that only one Russian really supports this war:
V. V. Putin.
Everyone else, from Prigozhin to ordinary Russians, now knows the war is lost.
Moreover, Putin is desperate. He wouldn’t go out among the general population unless that was his last hope.
So, the only real question:
Who will remove Putin, either from office–or from this world?
There are people in the Kremlin deciding this as we post…

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

From the lack of support (and defence) of Putin during the putsch, right up to the time Prigozhin realized taking Moscow was impossible, we now see that only one Russian really supports this war:
V. V. Putin.
Everyone else, from Prigozhin to ordinary Russians, now knows the war is lost.
Moreover, Putin is desperate. He wouldn’t go out among the general population unless that was his last hope.
So, the only real question:
Who will remove Putin, either from office–or from this world?
There are people in the Kremlin deciding this as we post…

Reginald Duquesnoy
Reginald Duquesnoy
1 year ago

one more victim of maskyrovka…little do they know, except their wishful thinking.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago

I thought it was theatre, something showy to rationalize using weapons that shouldn’t be considered. Now, perhaps its just the off ramp for the cook. He got tired of the clowns garb?
Either way, I dont think it bodes well for people caught up in this war.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago

I thought it was theatre, something showy to rationalize using weapons that shouldn’t be considered. Now, perhaps its just the off ramp for the cook. He got tired of the clowns garb?
Either way, I dont think it bodes well for people caught up in this war.

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
1 year ago

I firmly believe that soon a time of peace will come.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

This talk of peace is not an approved position. Remember, in Trans-Democracy you must take the positions that are consistant with what your governing masters approve of. All information that doesn’t support the approved agenda is false, and not to be spoken. 

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Yep, can’t wait to be liberated by Russia, that bastion of freedom

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Farrell

Yes, I get it… Putin bad, Zelensky good. Peace bad, war good. Two legs bad, four legs good.

zee upītis
zee upītis
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

You seem to have forgotten about who invaded. Putin == war.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

.
and unprovoked as well right?, Eastward march of NATO, 14,000 deaths in Donbas and an 8 year wait for Minsk2 to be honoured ..entirely irrelevant right? You’re giving naivety a bad name!

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

There was a chance to end the conflict back early on with a total pull out of Russia, and Borris Johnson put an end to that.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

.
and unprovoked as well right?, Eastward march of NATO, 14,000 deaths in Donbas and an 8 year wait for Minsk2 to be honoured ..entirely irrelevant right? You’re giving naivety a bad name!

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

There was a chance to end the conflict back early on with a total pull out of Russia, and Borris Johnson put an end to that.

zee upītis
zee upītis
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

You seem to have forgotten about who invaded. Putin == war.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Farrell

Given the choice I think I’d prefer to be “free” in Russia than “free” in Ukraine right now. Only the dead are completely free..

Last edited 1 year ago by Liam O'Mahony
Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Farrell

Yes, I get it… Putin bad, Zelensky good. Peace bad, war good. Two legs bad, four legs good.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Farrell

Given the choice I think I’d prefer to be “free” in Russia than “free” in Ukraine right now. Only the dead are completely free..

Last edited 1 year ago by Liam O'Mahony
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

I take the position of what my lying eyes see.

Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Yep, can’t wait to be liberated by Russia, that bastion of freedom

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

I take the position of what my lying eyes see.

Prashant Kotak
Prashant Kotak
1 year ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

And the time for Disney movies. Don’t forget the Disney movies.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

This talk of peace is not an approved position. Remember, in Trans-Democracy you must take the positions that are consistant with what your governing masters approve of. All information that doesn’t support the approved agenda is false, and not to be spoken. 

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
Prashant Kotak
Prashant Kotak
1 year ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

And the time for Disney movies. Don’t forget the Disney movies.

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
1 year ago

I firmly believe that soon a time of peace will come.

David Lindsay
David Lindsay
1 year ago

No one in the West can possibly know at this stage, but perhaps the Wagner Group really is being moved to Belarus to “guard” the Russian nuclear weapons that were now there. 48 hours ago, the people who are having kittens over that, were wetting themselves with glee that Yevgeny Prigozhin, and thus whoever had paid him, were going to be getting their hands on the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. That is the thing with mercenaries. They belong to whoever pays them more. So a private company with what amounted to vast and expanding territories in Africa and elsewhere may indeed soon have de facto control of nuclear weapons as well.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lindsay

Indeed.
We in the west use 6 Jan rioters to guard our nuclear facilities.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lindsay

Indeed.
We in the west use 6 Jan rioters to guard our nuclear facilities.

David Lindsay
David Lindsay
1 year ago

No one in the West can possibly know at this stage, but perhaps the Wagner Group really is being moved to Belarus to “guard” the Russian nuclear weapons that were now there. 48 hours ago, the people who are having kittens over that, were wetting themselves with glee that Yevgeny Prigozhin, and thus whoever had paid him, were going to be getting their hands on the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. That is the thing with mercenaries. They belong to whoever pays them more. So a private company with what amounted to vast and expanding territories in Africa and elsewhere may indeed soon have de facto control of nuclear weapons as well.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
1 year ago

Isn’t this an ideal opportunity for Putin to withdraw and place the blame firmly on Prigo’s shoulders?

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago

…eh, no.

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago

…eh, no.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
1 year ago

Isn’t this an ideal opportunity for Putin to withdraw and place the blame firmly on Prigo’s shoulders?

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago

I still think the whole affair could be Putin cooked up ruse to confuse the enemy.. or to get Prigozhin to Belarus with his 25,000 band soon to follow (as newly recruited regular Russian troops? ..immediately reverting to Prigozhin’s command upon arrival?).. in order to launch an attack on Kyev.. Putin is a wily old bear.. and so too is his friend Prigozhin.. feichimís.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Liam O'Mahony

Oooh, a RUSE!
Just like the one Putin used to besiege Kyiv and Kharkiv!
And the one where he evacuated Kherson!
It’s all a giant trap, just waiting to spring!
You DO know every losing side in a war thinks this kind of stuff?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Liam O'Mahony

Oooh, a RUSE!
Just like the one Putin used to besiege Kyiv and Kharkiv!
And the one where he evacuated Kherson!
It’s all a giant trap, just waiting to spring!
You DO know every losing side in a war thinks this kind of stuff?

Liam O'Mahony
Liam O'Mahony
1 year ago

I still think the whole affair could be Putin cooked up ruse to confuse the enemy.. or to get Prigozhin to Belarus with his 25,000 band soon to follow (as newly recruited regular Russian troops? ..immediately reverting to Prigozhin’s command upon arrival?).. in order to launch an attack on Kyev.. Putin is a wily old bear.. and so too is his friend Prigozhin.. feichimís.