Yaroslav Trofimov
WSJ, June 26, 2023
“… none of the key players in the power struggle—beginning when Prigozhin seized the southern city of Rostov Saturday—has been strengthened by the ordeal that brought the country to the edge of civil war.”
A day after Wagner’s mutiny showed the unexpected fragility of President Vladimir Putin’s regime, all the main players in Russia’s worst political crisis in decades stayed out of sight—leaving Russians, and the world, to wonder whether the drama was really over.
Key unanswered questions include the future of Wagner’s 25,000 heavily armed troops, the paramilitary group’s owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military leadership, which failed to stop his rapid advance toward Moscow. The details of agreements brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to halt looming bloodshed have yet to be made public.
Following a lengthy public feud with Russia’s military leadership, including over the war in Ukraine, Prigozhin was also in danger of losing his power base after a June 10 Russian defense ministry order requiring all private armies to sign government contracts, which would have brought Wagner under formal Russian military control.
The whereabouts of Prigozhin, who according to the Kremlin had agreed to relocate to Belarus, were also unknown on Sunday. His company told a Russian TV network that he “will answer questions when he will have access to proper communications.” Flying Russian flags, large Wagner columns on Sunday were driving south on the Moscow-Rostov highway—away from the capital and away from Belarus.
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