Putin’s biggest mistakes in the Wagner uprising

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin is damaged goods. He may have survived last weekend’s mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group of mercenaries. In reacting as he did, though, Putin not only made himself even weaker, but also planted the idea of his impotence in the minds of Russians and the world.

Of course Putin had to show himself and say something to the nation as Prigozhin’s mercenaries seized the southern Russian city of Rostov and started driving north towards Moscow – but what, exactly? The mutineers were “betraying” the nation in its fight against “neo-Nazis” and the West, Putin asserted limply. That much was expected. The mistakes came next.

The first was comparing Prigozhin’s coup attempt to the mutiny of Russian soldiers in early 1917. That planted three parallels in Russian minds that’ll be hard to erase. First, there’s a weak and unpopular czar – Nicholas II, later executed with his family, then; Putin today. Second, there’s a war going on that Russia is losing – World War I then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now. Third, there will soon be revolution and civil war, so start thinking about which side to be on.