Yeah, but he was stripped of all of his power. Wagner group is being rolled into the state military. The opportunity for Wagner to push back and or give Putin the boot has passed.
And, this dude was also an evil corrupt piece of shit. If he overthrew Putin, Russia would’ve still been an authoritarian disinformation state.
He was a straight-up Neo-Nazi and named the group after Hitler's favorite composer. So yeah, he would have been infinitely worse than Putin... and that's saying something.
Yep Prigozhin was a monster. My only regret is that he and Putin didn't die together with their hands around each other's throats. And in other news, I think I'll have tacos for lunch from my favorite local hole-in-the-wall...
When the short insurrection by Wagner was going on, I had hoped so much that Prigo and Putin somehow annihilate each other, or at least the hardliners in military and mercenaries perish in infighting. Sadly, all we got was confusion on that day.
At least if Prigo's death now ends up being confirmed, there won't be that much confusion on why it happened, only some details will remain unclear.
Wagners are straight up fleeing into neighboring countries and Africa. They must have read the history books about what happens when one warlord assimilates another's forces (they kill them quietly and easily now that they're disarmed).
There would be no clean replacement. It would get very bloody and chaotic. Not a bad hypothetical scenario. But that ship has sailed when Prihozhin surrendered (he didn't stand much of a chance anyway).
The most surprising thing here is that nine people were willing to get on a plane with Prigozhin. That's arguably much closer to actual suicide than any of the convenient window deaths that keep happening.
It's not like Putin and his closest cronies are in any way competent. They are removing anyone who dared to criticize. Before the coup Prigozhin, Girkin were allowed to say whatever they wanted as long as they did not undermine the general effort. Now Putin's inner circle will ultimately disconnect themselves from reality: govern the country and the war from a bunker filled with scared yes-sayers with no alternative voices.