INTERVIEW | The Revolt in Russia, Explained

The Wagner Group, mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, revolted against the Kremlin over the weekend after its leader claimed the Russian military killed 2,000 of its fighters in Ukraine. 

Victoria Coates, a senior research fellow in international affairs and national security at The Heritage Foundation, explains that “the Wagner Group is essentially a private paramilitary group run by Prigozhin, who was actually imprisoned for corruption at the end of the Soviet Union and then somehow became [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s private chef, and they established a very close relationship.” (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.) 

Coates also weighs in on whether she thinks the rank-and-file members of the Russian military have lost confidence in Putin. 

“Well, they’ve certainly lost confidence in the top control of the ministry, particularly [Sergei] Shoigu, the minister of defense, who was never popular,” she says. “And in a way, Putin’s kept him around because he isn’t popular, and he doesn’t threaten Putin’s popularity, and he was an offset to Prigozhin who was an offset to Shoigu.”

“So, that kind of arrangement has worked for a while, but if there is a greater perception within Russia than we realize of how poorly the Ukraine war has gone, given the way it was sold as a three-day war, inevitable triumph, that obviously has not turned out to be the case, and the casualties have been horrific. And if that is starting to sink in, he might have another Afghanistan-style situation on his hands, and this could be a real emblem of that,” Coates says. 

Coates joins today’s episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast” to further discuss the events that unfolded in Russia, and what they mean for Putin and his government.

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