Russia | After Prigozhin’s death, Putin clings to power

After the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, experts agree that Putin will tighten his grip on power, and the Wagner structure will be overtaken by the state, including its role in the war in Ukraine.

According to opinion polls, 82% of Russians approve of Vladimir Putin’s job as president, and this perception has not changed much since the Wagner mutiny in June.

ADVERTISING

Russian sociologist and director of the Levada analytical center Denis Volkov notes that Putin’s reaction can be seen as a signal to the elites:

“First, he came out with a fairly unambiguous position, and then he went and started meeting people, which hadn’t happened for a long time. For example, when he went to see people in the North Caucasus, I think this was made for the elites, so that the elites would not forget who is loved by the people”.

After the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, experts agree that Putin will tighten his grip on power, and the Wagner structure will be overtaken by the state, including its role in the war in Ukraine.

“Prigozhin was one of many many people who had some kind of government connections, but frankly speaking, business in Russia has to have some kind of connection and in that sense Prigozhin was no exception, he was a bit of a quaint, personality. , but that’s what it was,” said Anna Matveeva, a conflict and security expert at King’s College London Russia Institute.

“So right now, if you look at what’s happening on the front lines, there’s not as much of a need for Wagner to be there. If we had some kind of massive breakthrough from the Ukraine, then Wagner might be needed.”

“So now Putin has to show that A: there is no possibility of signing an agreement with Putin. They will kill you anyway if you protest. B: he needs to kill his officers to keep order in his own inner circle and C: he got rid of of a more or less capable commander and he was left with incapable commanders. None of these three features of this outcome of events is good for Putin,” says the founder and director general of the European Center for Resilience Initiatives, Sergej Sumlenny.

“You can get rid of Prigozhin or Utkin, his commanding officer, but you can either get rid of this atmosphere of violence in Russian society, which causes more violence, more unlimited violence, and knowingly leads to committing war crimes.”

#Russia #Prigozhins #death #Putin #clings #power