Global Courant
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The same government that slaughtered Ukrainian citizens for more than a year, alleging NATO bad guys are too close to its borders, allowed its own rogue mercenary boss to shoot down military helicopters on Saturday and, according to state media, kill several soldiers before calmly waltzing away to a new life in Belarus.
The Kremlin even publicly guaranteed that Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin had the “word” from President Vladimir Putin that he could safely leave the country – after criminal charges against him were favorably dropped.
So why is Prigozhin so untouchable? Or is the Kremlin just bidding its time to deal with him in a less public way?
It’s hard to imagine the former hot dog vendor coming off unscathed after humiliating the Russian leader while the whole world watched. The chaotic spectacle of Prigozhin’s armed uprising and the ease with which he and his Wagner mercenaries seemed to take power in Rostov shattered Putin’s carefully cultivated image as a strong leader. Hours after Putin vowed to take “brutal” measures against the coup organizers, they walked out. And in another blow to Putin, crowds of supportive Rostov residents were filmed cheering the Wagner fighters and shaking their hands.
Ukraine will be the big winner of Prigozhin turning against Putin
That may have played a part in the decision to let the whole thing slide. Prigozhin has gained a lot of support among pro-war hardliners in recent months and has appealed to ordinary Russians by positioning himself as an anti-elitist crusader (spoiler alert: he’s not). His frequent criticism of the country’s military leadership also earned him praise for his “honesty” among some Russians who previously had no idea who he was.
An unnamed source close to the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces was quoted against the independent Russian news outlet iStories on Saturday that Putin had ordered the security services to “liquidate” Prigozhin to avoid engaging in fighting in Russian cities.
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“Putin doesn’t need a big gunfight, so the main task is to take out Prigozhin and break down Wagner’s backbone and promise amnesty (to Wagner fighters) for this disgrace,” the source said.
It’s not clear whether the security services made any attempt to take out Prigozhin during the brief takeover, but he was eventually allowed to leave, even happily posing for photos as he departed Rostov. It may be that Moscow saw the potential for Prigozhin to turn into a martyr if he left in a blaze of glory amidst his rebellion.
Several Russian officers were interviewed anonymously by The Moscow Times also said most troops were simply unwilling to take on Wagner fighters to defend cities against a takeover. “The mood is that no one will die for Moscow. Everyone understands that this is not about protection against the enemy, but about dirty internal skirmishes, there is no point in dying for this,” said an officer.
Others said they actually supported Prigozhin: “That’s why almost all roads are open to the (Wagner’s) convoys, for the same reason that they managed to take Rostov-on-Don in a few hours without a single shot.”
UKRAINE-CRISIS/RUSSIA-ROSTOV-WAGNER
A fighter from the private mercenary group Wagner walks past a tank on a street near a local circus in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Reuters
But Prigozhin also seems to have a number of powerful figures invested in him, including Yury Kovalchuk, a close friend of Putin and a billionaire who is considered one of the most influential figures in Russia. The independent outlet meduza last November quoted a source close to the Kremlin as describing Prigozhin as a “tool” of Yury Kovalchuk and his brother Mikhail. The Kovalchuk brothers, together with Prigozhin, are said to have launched a “patriotic” and “anti-elitist” political movement that could eventually grow into a party.
Prigozhin is also said to have met Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin last March, and the Wagner boss allegedly walked away with an agreement for the Putin ally to sponsor some of his projects.
It is not clear what exactly he will be doing in Belarus, or how long he will stay there (if he does move there). As of Saturday night, the mercenary’s boss was mom on social media, and Russian prosecutors had already blocked him on the popular VK networking site.
Putin, for his part, had apparently retreated to his bunker after the whole dizzying saga, with his spokesman confirming to reporters that the Russian leader had absolutely nothing to say: “No, no. We have told you everything we wanted and could tell you.”
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