Soldiers from the private military company Wagner Group patrol a street in Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia, June 24. STRINGER (EFE)
The Kremlin’s enfant terrible, Yevgeny Prigozhin, pampered by Vladimir Putin and hailed as a national hero by much of the population, has taken a decisive step in his confrontation with the established order in Russia. And he had to back down after a few hours. At least for now.
With his crude diatribes, which come much closer to ordinary Russians than the stereotypical declamations of top Russian politicians, the head of the Wagner group has been moving closer to the president for weeks. He needed this support to counter Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s intention to enlist the group’s mercenaries into the ranks of the regular army. In other words: dethrone Prigozhin. But Putin’s reaction has made it clear that there are protections for his former friend and accomplice.
Forcing the Kremlin to act, then, is the probability calculation that Prigozhin made and which led him to embark on an adventure unparalleled in Russian-Soviet history.
The fact that Prigozhin called the advance of his armed column a “march for justice” is very striking. He does not look for military, heroic and martial names, but for an appeal to the people, to social justice, against those whom he rightly calls constipated, exploited and corrupt people alien to the national interest. And that they bring the country closer to the catastrophe in Ukraine, where they should never have entered.
It is very instructive to read the recent interviews Prigozhin has given, in which he reveals each and every one of the reasons put forward by Putin and many Western analysts to legitimize or “understand” why Moscow decided to attack Ukraine: We wanted to “liberate” this is our Nazism and it turns out they are fighting us; We wanted to wipe Ukraine off the map because now the whole world knows about it; we wanted to save the Russian language, now it has not been spoken for decades; We have said that NATO is a threat and is now growing instead of shrinking.
As the facts show, there was little sign of confirmation for the hypothesis that Wagner’s boss could use force to assert himself. Most likely, the vigorous reaction of the various security forces (Interior Ministry, FSB and others), who are Putin’s main support, will have broken Prigozhin’s resolve. However, some independent Russian analysts warn that this bold initiative could draw sympathy from the populace, which knows and appreciates everything he denounces among the ranks of the privileged. The fact that Prigozhin belonged to the latter and was at the very top, perhaps, does not diminish his credibility in public opinion, but, on the contrary, allows him to present himself as a kind of male Joan of Arc (yes). , very male as one is Russian) who tried to save Russia from its decline.
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Carmen Claudian She is Senior Research Associate at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB).
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