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JEROME STARKEY
Putin’s authority is in tatters after Wagner rebellion – the mob boss president has been spectacularly disgraced
VLADIMIR Putin’s authority is in tatters. The mob boss president has been spectacularly disgraced.
The Wagner “almost-coup” was a punch in the guts for him. In the gangster code of the Kremlin, he has to punch back fast and harder — or he will just invite more punches.
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The Wagner rebels’ charge to Moscow was also a massive humiliation for Russia’s military and intelligence services.
The army did almost nothing to stop the Wagner advance.
Troops surrendered their bases. National guardsmen waved Wagner on.
Only the air force seemed willing to fight back — and they paid a heavy price with downed aircraft.
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There are a handful of possible explanations, but none look good for Putin.
Maybe soldiers in Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh supported Prigozhin.
Maybe their bosses had ordered them not to resist.
Or perhaps there just were not enough troops there because they are all fighting in Ukraine.
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Equally, Russia’s feared secret police signally failed to stop the plot before it got off the ground.
These are the same corrupt fools Putin puts a lot of trust in.
They told him the war in Ukraine would be easy.
It means Putin doesn’t know what’s coming and he doesn’t have the force to stop it.
He had to turn to Belarus President Viktor Lukashenko to act as Mr Fix It and broker an 11th-hour climbdown.
The almost-coup has wounded Putin far more than if he had crushed it when it reached Moscow.
He lost face to Prigozhin and the upstart got away with it.
Those wounds may yet prove mortal.
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