Late Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly addressed the end of a mutiny that threw the country into chaos. Any attempt to create “internal unrest” is doomed to failure, he said, claiming that he could have crushed the rebellion, but wanted to avoid bloodshed.
“They wanted Russians to fight each other,” Putin said in his short remarks. “They rubbed their hands, dreaming of taking revenge for their failures at the front and during the so-called counteroffensive. But they miscalculated.”
It was a glimpse at the official narrative emerging in the aftermath of an armed rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group paramilitary. In less than 24 hours, Wagner fighters seized military installations in Russia’s south and marched on Moscow. Then, just as abruptly, Prigozhin halted that movement, claiming this was all part of the plan. The Kremlin later said a deal — apparently brokered by Belarus — had been reached whereby Prigozhin would avoid prosecution in exchange for going into exile in Belarus, though the details of are still very murky.
But Putin’s remarks Monday evening did little to answer the many questions that still swirl around Wagner’s insurrection, including the status of Putin himself.
Prigozhin has since said he wasn’t trying to do a coup; instead, he was trying to stop his Wagner fighters from being absorbed by the Russian military. That is still going to happen, according to Putin, unless those fighters also prefer to go to Belarus or agree to be decommissioned.
And this uprising was perhaps the biggest challenge to the Russian regime in decades. Prigozhin may not have wanted to overthrow Putin, but in 24 hours, it looked possible that Putin could be overthrown. The Russian president showed that he is not the infallible strongman he has sold himself to be.
And yet. It is likely way, way too soon to be declaring this the end of Putin. The mutiny showed the cracks in Putin’s control, and in the…
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