A sense of uncertainty and confusion pervaded Russia on Sunday after the strongest challenge to President Vladimir V. Putin’s rule appeared to have been defused but the swirl of events over the previous two days had left questions about his authority and the future of the war in Ukraine.
In many ways, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary force known as Wagner who led an armed uprising against the military’s leadership for nearly 24 hours this weekend, punctured Putin’s strongman authority and aura of infallibility. Prigozhin’s blistering criticism and brazen actions called into question Russia’s justifications for its war in Ukraine and the competency of its military leadership.
Each hour on Saturday brought news of Prigozhin’s private military company forces inching closer to Moscow, posing a threat to Putin and raising the spectre of a civil war in the nuclear-armed state.
Instead, a close ally of Putin, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, stepped in and arranged to have Prigozhin go to Belarus and avoid criminal charges, while also absolving the Wagner fighters of repercussions.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said the agreement was struck to “avoid bloodshed, to avoid an internal confrontation, to avoid clashes with unpredictable consequences”. By nightfall on Saturday, columns of Wagner fighters were seen streaming out of the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a military hub.
The impact of such a direct challenge to the Kremlin, which went unpunished, might not be felt for days or weeks. It could have profound implications for the fate of Ukraine and for Russia’s global standing as partners like China reassess the strength of Putin’s authority.
Both Putin’s and Prigozhin’s current locations remain unknown. Putin made a brief national address on Saturday in which he refrained from mentioning Prigozhin by name but condemned his actions as “treason”. Russian state television reported that Putin had been working in a “special mode” in the Kremlin on Saturday, without elaborating on what that meant.
New York Times News Service
