The weaknesses weighing on Vladimir Putin after Wagner mutiny
Putin emerged from last month's Wagner mutiny looking weakened, despite defusing the immediate threat, according to analysts. The short-lived and ultimately aborted revolt by Yevgeny Prigozhin's mercenary force marked the most dramatic challenge ever to Putin's rule. The Belarus-brokered deal to halt Wagner's march toward Moscow saw off a major clash, yet now that agreement seems to be in question.
Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Prigozhin was in Russia — and thus not in the Belarusian exile called for in the deal. Here are five weaknesses now facing Putin: — Prigozhin still at large — The whereabouts of Prigozhin and his troops were unclear after Lukashenko spoke on Thursday, with the Kremlin saying it was «not following» the mercenary leader's movements. Yet the threat from Wagner is not just military.
The group also controls media organisations and troll farms, meaning Prigozhin must be muzzled as well as disarmed. The Russian authorities have blocked media groups linked to holding company Patriot, which «is in the process of being dismantled», according to Maxime Audinet of the Institute for Strategic Research in Paris. «Prigozhin is going to be deprived of his massive media power,» Audinet told AFP.
But it is difficult to imagine him staying silent for long, added retired Australian general Mick Ryan. — Cracks in Putin's authority — Putin — who has jailed his critics and has ruthlessly punished dissenting voices, particularly since the start of the war in Ukraine — has spared the man who took aim at his senior defence chiefs. «The idea that the regime is no longer infallible may grow in the minds of a part of the elites.
Read more on economictimes.indiatimes.com
