Putin faces a deluge of bad news as Wagner says it will withdraw from frontline and Kremlin comes under attack

 

Founder of the Wagner private mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, makes a statement in a video released on Friday.
Founder of the Wagner private mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, makes a statement in a video released on Friday. Reuters

This week the Kremlin made a stark admission its seat of power in the heart of Moscow was attacked by what it claimed were Ukrainian drones in a bid to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.

And then on Friday, perhaps the most prominent figure in Russia’s military, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the self-promoting head of the private military company Wagner, used his Telegram account to say he will withdraw his forces from Bakhmut on May 10.

There is not even an “unless” attached to the threat. He simply says it will happen, so they can “lick their wounds,” as they refuse to fight on senselessly without enough artillery shells to function.

And it will happen just after the May 9 Victory Day pomp and celebration, as, he insists, Wagner are patriots.

The Putin administration does not like appearing weak. The bedrock of the President and his ministers’ hold on power is that they are the calm, controlled, ruthless masters of Russia’s geopolitical destiny – ensuring order in the storm.

An attack on the Kremlin, and the declaration that a private mercenary group will walk out on a key frontline, are not a good look – whatever the truth behind each situation.

Read the full analysis here.

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