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Prigozhin was deeply concerned with getting personally marginalized as his private army gets further incorporated into the MoD due to their operational signific
by pphysch 3y ago
Prigozhin was deeply concerned with getting personally marginalized as his private army gets further incorporated into the MoD due to their operational significance. This was evident from his rhetoric around Wagner contract negotiations.
So this was his way of saying "I'm powerful, I'm in control, I matter". It was always about him and feeling tossed aside by powerful officials like Shoigu and Gerasimov, who need his army but don't care about Prigozhin. It had nothing to do with policy difference, it was just a pure demonstration of raw power.
I would be surprised if Shoigu or Gerasimov get pushed out as a result, I think it is more likely that Prigozhin got guarantees about his own future within the military establishment, something of an "honorary general".
- jt2190 3y agoYes. A lot of commenters here seem to be unaware that the Wagner Group had become uncomfortably powerful for Putin even prior to the Ukraine conflict, and that the incorporation of Wagner soldiers into the Russian Army is a clear signal that the Wagner Group is now being unwound and Prigozhin’s days as the leader of a “second russian army” are over. I suspect that Prigozhin realized that he was being “retired” far too late, made a rash, desperate attempt to court popular support (he’s prone to rash decisions) but decided that he probably couldn’t pull it off.