The President of Russia, the aggressor Vladimir Putin, is still thinking about how to deal with Yevgeny Prigozhin, said William Burns, head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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Prigozhin and his mercenary group “Wagner” staged a coup in Russia in June.
The coup exposed significant weaknesses in the system of power established by Putin, the CIA chief said. He said the Russian leader could still seek revenge on Prigozhin. “What we’re seeing is a very complex dance,” Burns said.
Putin is likely to try to buy time by thinking about how best to deal with the Wagner chief, the CIA chief said. The mercenary group continues to operate in countries where the Kremlin tries to realize its political and commercial interests.
“In my experience, Putin is an apostle of revenge, so I would be surprised if Prigozhin escaped further retaliation,” Burns said.
It has already been reported that Prigozhin accused Moscow of deadly missile attacks on mercenary units in late June and promised to take revenge. He vowed to take all necessary steps to topple the country’s military leadership, threatening that his forces would “destroy everything” in their path.
Soon after, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced it was opening an investigation into calls for an “armed uprising.” On the morning of June 24, Prigozhin announced that he was “ready to go all the way to Moscow” to get hold of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov.
“Wagner” units occupied military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh and also reached the Lipetsk region, being only a few hundred kilometers from the gates of Moscow on Saturday evening. Defensive positions were already being set up in and around the Russian capital, as state security structures prepared for potential clashes with the Wagnerites.
However, in the evening of the same day, Prigozhin, to the surprise of many, announced that he was withdrawing “Wagner’s” advance on Moscow, putting an end to the approximately 24-hour rebellion.
2023-07-21 08:19:57
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