Of course, for years the Kremlin denied any links to Wagner and, in fact, did so as the group raged through Syria starting in 2015 and committed massacres in the Central African Republic in 20 and in Mali in 2022. Strong leaders do not create and pay mercenaries to do their fighting. The fact that the Wagner Group-a private paramilitary company led by Prigozhin-existed at all was already a sign of Putin’s weakness. And he will not have many opportunities to strengthen his rule anytime soon. No matter the final details of the deal between Prigozhin and Putin or the claims of Kremlin propagandists and their supporters in the West, Putin has emerged from this crisis much weaker than he was just days ago. The shocking June 23–25 rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin has only confirmed that hypothesis. He is increasingly looking like one of its weakest.Įarlier this year, I wrote an essay for these pages, entitled “ Why Vladimir Putin’s Luck Ran Out,” explaining why Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine weakened his grip on power more than any other event in his two-decade rule of Russia. The Russian autocrat wanted to go down in history on par with Russia’s greatest leaders. Why He May Soon Be Remembered as “Putin the Weak”
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