Just How Much Trouble Is Vladimir Putin In? Fourteen Russia experts on what we learned about Putin over the past few days, and what the attempted mutiny could mean for Russia and the West.
“Putin will probably emerge even stronger.”
“I do not anticipate any impact on the war.”
“Putin overestimated his own ability to control the monster that he had created.”
“A coup that began as a whimper and ended as a whimper.”
“A stress test of Putin’s public image.”
“He seemed genuinely frightened.”
“Putin is capable of de-escalation.”
By POLITICO MAGAZINE
06/26/2023 04:30 AM EDT
The last few days have been alternately strange, confusing and nerve- wracking. The world watched as tension between several of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most loyal lieutenants broke into the open, and one of them turned his guns on targets in his own country.
For now, the situation appears to have been resolved with an offer of exile to Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, who resisted having his forces integrated into the Russian army and sent them into Russia to confront the military leadership. But it remains unclear to what extent Putin and the autocratic regime he has spent the last 23 years building has been damaged by the display of defiance, either short term or long term.
So we asked some of the most astute observers of Russia and its leader to share their thoughts on what we’ve learned about Putin in the last few days, and what that might mean for Russia — and the West — going forward.
Some think this is the beginning of the end of Putin’s rule while others think he could use the episode to consolidate his power. Some see a future of bitter infighting among elites in Russia and others see an escalation of the war in Ukraine. There’s also the complicating factor that there might be much more behind this settlement between Putin and Prigozhin than we understand now.
Here’s what they had to say:
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Poster Comment:
Some interesting thoughts and insights at the source.
