Vladimir Putin has elevated outsiders like Yevgeny Prigozhin to positions of power and influence, much like his predecessors Peter the Great or Stalin. Though these advisors blaze brightly when the leader needs them, they are dispensable when he doesn’t.
’s relationship may look bizarre to those of us who live in Atlantic democracies. It is tempting to endow this opéra bouffe with extra layers of conspiracy. But their intimate and now venomous double act is in many ways a microcosm of the way Putin has ruled Russia for the last 23 years, through a court that is designed to keep the autocrat in control.
As president, Putin, like every czar before him, sought energetic henchmen to outrank the sluggish, sullen bureaucrats who occupy the desks of state institutions. The Russian czar—whether Putin or his predecessors the Alexanders and Nicholases and Stalin—must manage and overawe the powerful, change-resistant bureaucracies to maintain his own supremacy.
Even his start as a chef and restaurateur in St. Petersburg resonates with Putin’s own family origins. Prigozhin was known as “Putin’s chef,” but the autocrat’s preeminent chef was his grandfather, Spiridon Putin, whose curriculum vitae belongs in a historical novel. This most world-historical of chefs cooked for Rasputin at the Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg, then for Lenin and Stalin as a member of their secret-police service staff.
The great thing about favorites is that, while they blaze brightly when the czar needs them, they are dispensable when he doesn’t. Putin then created his own favorites: Prigozhin reflected the coarse brutality of Putin’s own court. Prigozhin had spent nine years in jail for robbery. This may sound extraordinary to wide-eyed American commentators, but his background as a minor gangster turned hot dog vendor and restaurateur, turned presidential chef and friend, reveals a facet of Putin’s court and indeed the modern Russian state.
Prigozhin’s small legion headed for Moscow against the vast regiments of Putin’s regular army and praetorian guards. But in Russian history, small units have often successfully seized power. Some army units attacked Wagner, but many did nothing. Some generals, disgusted by Russia’s bungled war, had encouraged Prigozhin’s march—including, allegedly, Putin’s top fighting commander, Generalnicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press.
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Lukashenko says Putin wanted to 'wipe out' Prigozhin during mutiny attemptMOSCOW (Reuters) -Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin not to 'wipe out' mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in response to what the Kremlin cast as a mutiny that pushed Russia towards civil war. Putin initially vowed to crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolution of 1917 and then a civil war, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to Belarus. Prigozhin flew to Belarus from Russia on Tuesday.
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Trump: Putin Is ‘Somewhat Weakened’ by Prigozhin’s Mutiny Attempt“You could say that he’s still there, he’s still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened,” Trump said.
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After Wagner mutiny, Navalny asks why he, not Prigozhin, is jailedAccused of trying to overthrow Russian authorities himself, Alexei Navalny was stunned that Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who sent columns of fighters and tanks rolling toward Moscow, had escaped insurrection charges, thanks to a deal with President Vladimir Putin.
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