Why Putin’s allies believe he is 'divorced from reality': Russian journalist

30 June 2023

The day Wagner Group leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin attempted to rebel against the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin was enjoying himself at one of the country's "most popular" events, the Scarlet Sails festival, according to Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar.

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, Zygar shares that after speaking with Putin allies, it's clear they believe "this is the clearest evidence yet that the president is divorced from reality."

And as a result of his failure to prevent the rebellion — if only he had talked to Prigozhin — many of those same allies are feeling "a growing appetite for change."

The former editor in chief of Russian independent TV news channel Dozed writes:

First, he encouraged Mr. Prigozhin, tacitly allowing him to recruit widely — including from prisons — for the war in Ukraine and to take a prominent position on the battlefield, particularly in the fight for Bakhmut. The calculation was not strictly military. Mr. Prigozhin was clearly elevated to act as a counterweight to the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the military generals, ensuring they didn't become too popular. So when Mr. Prigozhin started criticizing the military leadership — often in explicit, expletive-ridden diatribes — the president did nothing to stop it.

As a result, Zygar notes:

The damage is done.The rebellion has desacralized Mr. Putin, substantially weakening his authority. Before this weekend, much of Russian society, and especially state bureaucrats, believed that he always made the right decisions, that he was much more cunning, wiser and better informed than anyone else. But the events of the weekend have shown Mr. Putin in the worst possible light: weak, vacillating, incapable of exerting control. He alone is to blame for what happened, something that is obvious to everyone except him.

Now, according to the author of War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky and the Path to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, Progozhin has likely arrived to "the end of his political and military career," while Zygar emphasizes, if Putin "still believes that he has everything under control" — well, "he is mistaken."

Zygar's full op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).

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