In a brief video shared by Russian social media channels, a person who appears to be the exiled mercenary chief says he is recruiting “real strong men.”
In a brief video shared by Russian social media channels, a person who appears to be the exiled mercenary chief says he is recruiting “real strong men.”
It makes sense. He is the “manager” of Russian operations in Africa, whether those are mining or military oriented. Prigozhin has established a lot of connections there, ranging from warlords to politicians, and plenty of leaders are quite pleased with Russia. The Wagner group function as bodyguards for aforementioned leaders and help with “peacekeeping” creating a dependency that can be exploited in exchange for natural resources and political influence. His defenestration would do little to mitigate the Kremlin’s perceived vulnerability after the coup attempt, while being an enormous setback to their recent expansion.
EDIT: I was wrong
I agree with most of what you said. Wagner provides contract security support for African dictators, often aligning with the Kremlin’s interests. But
I think taking him out dissuades other dissidents. Why let him live?
Is Putin too weak to take him out because Prigozhin has popular support from ultra-nationalists? Was the whole thing a farce to expose actual traitors?
Put it this way, Lavrov was on the phone to DRCongo within days of the coup to reassure Touadera that it would be business as usual.