The Prigozhin-less Future of the Wagner Group and Russia
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The reported death of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier this week sparked widespread media dialogue on what it means for the state of Wagner and Russia going forward.
A Strong Kremlin: Tatiana Stanovaya, writing for New York Times (Lean Left bias) argued “Putin had every reason to want Prigozhin gone.” She said Western audiences underestimate Putin’s “fundamental conviction” in prioritizing the strength of the state over his own personal desires, and that Prigozhin’s June coup attempt marked the beginning of his own downfall. Stanoyava said regardless of what was behind Prigozhin’s death, it demonstrates that no one is above attempting to make the Kremlin look weak.
Prigozhin’s Legacy: Candace Rondeaux, writing for Financial Times (Center bias) said whatever may come of the future of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin’s legacy will remain. She says Putin’s forces are “in disarray” and that “irregular paramilitaries” will continue to prop up his administration, which is “crippled by sanctions and corroded by corruption.”
Putin’s Fate Sealed: Hamish De Bretton-Gordon, writing for The Telegraph UK (Lean Right bias) said the “entire world is sure” Putin ordered Prigozhin’s death, and that the killing, in juncture with his dismissal of General Sergei Surovikin, suggests the end is near for Putin. Bretton-Gordon argues it is possible Wagner mercenaries may try to turn against the Kremlin, and that without battle-experienced commanders like Prigozhin and Surovikin, he is left with a weaker military to attack Ukraine or defend Moscow.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Putin Had Every Reason to Want Prigozhin Gone
Very few were taken aback by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s presumed death, even if the means — plunging from the sky in a plane crash — were undeniably dramatic. Such an eventuality had been widely discussed in both Russian and Western circles ever since the mercenary leader’s short-lived mutiny in June. No matter that Mr. Prigozhin subsequently met with the Kremlin and seemed to come and go where he pleased. To many, it was only a matter of time until he got his comeuppance.
Wednesday’s events remain shrouded in mystery. Was Mr. Prigozhin’s jet shot...
From the Center
Prigozhin may be gone but his grim work lives on
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s ferocious shadow army changed the course of Russian history. Few narratives have been as enigmatic as the story of how a convicted criminal turned catering magnate built the Wagner group into a brand to be reckoned with across the globe. But the plane crash that killed Prigozhin and nine others this week is proof positive that the more undeniable the Wagner group’s unhinged brutality became, the more president Vladimir Putin viewed Prigozhin as a liability. Even before founding his paramilitary cartel in 2014, Prigozhin’s career was intertwined with...
From the Right
Putin has signed his name on the wrong piece of paper this time
As Vladimir Putin sits thinking in his bomb-proof office, he may come to regret the fact that the entire world is sure that he ordered the death of the mutinous mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Kremlin is a Camorra, a mafia style parliament, running a gangster operation to fill Putin’s pockets and those of his oligarchs and elites. But as the Japanese found in Burma in 1944, if you prosecute a war with terror you will likely come unstuck against a well led, motivated and moral organisation like General ‘Bill’ Slim’s...
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