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Prigozhin’s Life On the Line — Did He Save His Own Skin?
We haven’t been hearing much of the Wagner mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in recent weeks. He’s had a fairly low profile.
That’s because Prigozhin strategically withdrew himself from an unwinnable — and costly conflict — in Bakhmut.
Let me explain.
For those who might need a refresher, the Wagner Group serves as a private military contractor, allowing Russia to engage in conflicts without the direct involvement of the Russian military.
They have been strategically positioned in the Middle East, Africa, and even as far as Latin America. Thus far, Wagner has been active across four continents and is known for being particularly brutal, utilizing torture to frighten their enemies.
So, Putin should not be surprised by Prigozhin’s erratic behavior.
To add to Putin’s miscalculation about Prigozhin, he also miscalculated about the public’s outcry over Wagner troops potentially rolling into Moscow.
Putin has been building an ambivalent public for some time and their lack of protest over Prigozhin’s rebellion was certainly in line with Russia’s relative silence for the past two decades.
