The short-lived uprising by Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has forced a closer scrutiny of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s takeover of power. Russia’s political system “is showing its weaknesses and military power is collapsing,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a summit of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
Questions remain about the whereabouts of Putin and Prigozhin — neither of whom have been seen in public since the episode ended — and the future of Prigozhin’s Wagner Group mercenaries.
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Now, after the short-lived uprising, Prigozhin has been exiled to Belarus, a dictatorship even more isolated than Russia and often dubbed the North Korea of Europe, reports Mary Ilyushina.
In some respects, Prigozhin’s brazen maneuver clearly failed – his uprising ended without the overthrow of his sworn enemies, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, commander-in-chief of the war in Ukraine. But he didn’t completely lose his private mercenary army and seemed to be gaining some recognition in Russia: After news of his deal with Putin broke, he was given a farewell by celebrities as he left the city of Rostov-on-Don, with many locals applauding and hurrying to take selfies close.