In July, Prigozhin posted a photograph of himself attending the Kremlin-organized Africa leaders’ summit in St. In the aftermath of his failed mutiny, Prigozhin was offered a chance to keep playing by those rules his refusal, and his brutal end, may mean a return to the era of bloody contestation.įar from being ostracized by Russia’s president, by Putin’s own account, Prigozhin met with him in the Kremlin only a mere week after the armed revolt. Enemies of the regime, such as journalists, were fair game, but the gangsters who held power, officially or otherwise, were protected. Disputes could be resolved nonlethally by the system established by Putin, not by bullets fired into a limousine. Indeed, as of 2021, the homicide rate in Russia had dropped nearly 76 percent since the start of Putin’s tenure. Part of Putin’s appeal to Russia’s elite, whether they were criminals, businessmen, or politicians, was that he ended, or at least capped, that violence. Being a rich man in Russia was an inherently risky and deadly business. Bombings and contract shootings of oligarchs, rival businessmen, politicians, and organized crime figures were a regular occurrence on the streets of Russia’s major cities. That was the time of razborki-gangland confrontations, where disputes over the spoils of power would be resolved in a montage of violence. Prigozhin and Putin both rose to wealth and power in the tumultuous and chaotic 1990s. Petersburg, Moscow, and Africa, he had done everything but set up residence in a Minsk villa. Instead, judging by the flight records of Prigozhin’s private jet and in-person sightings all over St. Revenge motive is inconsistent with Putin’s apparent forgiveness of Prigozhin in the strange deal struck in June, when in return for amnesty, the mutineer agreed to pull back his armored column marching on Moscow, disarm his troops, and go into exile to Belarus. But look at events since then, and it doesn’t add up. The idea that this was revenge is tempting, given that Prigozhin’s mutiny, even if it rapidly disintegrated, seemed like a humiliation for Putin. But real reasons for what was almost certainly an assassination, and the implications of the killing for regime stability, are likely quite different. When Wagner mercenary group leader, caterer, and convicted robber Yevgeny Prigozhin met his fiery death alongside other Wagner leaders 30 miles southeast of Valdai, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorite lakefront residence, most assumed that it was the Russian president’s long-awaited revenge for Prigozhin’s failed mutiny this summer.
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