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A couple of days before rebel paramilitaries seized a city in southern Russia and began marching north toward Moscow, Wesleyan University’s Peter Rutland wrote an article for The Conversation on the challenge facing Russian President Vladimir Putin from the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. “Rarely in history have mercenary generals been able to seize political power,” Rutland noted.
That may be true, but for a short period over the weekend it looked like Prigozhin might – at the very least – be trying to upset the political and military order in the Kremlin. His Wagner troops moved through Russian towns with seemingly little resistance, and it was only the intervention of a third party – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko – that put an end to the mutiny.
In a follow-up piece analyzing events in Russia over the weekend, Rutland argues that claims that “Putin is finished” may be premature, but there is no doubt the Wagner rebellion has left the Russian leader’s “ruthless strongman” image in tatters and has chipped away at his rule.
As for the now-exiled Prigozhin, who knows what is next. Rutland wryly notes in his earlier article that perhaps the most famous mercenary of all time, Albrecht von Wallenstein, became so powerful after the Thirty Years War that his Hapsburg paymasters had him assassinated.
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Matt Williams
Senior Breaking News and International Editor
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Open defiance in Rostov-on-Don.
Feodor Larin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Peter Rutland, Wesleyan University
Signs of discontent among Russian nationalists and Wagner had been growing before a column of paramilitaries began an aborted march on Moscow.
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Economy + Business
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Scott Smith, University of South Carolina
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John A. Fliter, Kansas State University; Betsy Wood, Bard College
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Health + Medicine
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Scott Hagan, MD, University of Washington
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Education
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David Yamane, Wake Forest University
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Science + Technology
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Ashok Prasad, Colorado State University; Kenneth F. Reardon, Colorado State University
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Politics + Society
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Kimala Price, San Diego State University
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Minjeong Kim, UMass Lowell; Allyssa McCabe, UMass Lowell
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Eve Ringsmuth, Oklahoma State University; Rachael Houston, Texas Christian University; Timothy Johnson, University of Minnesota
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Ethics + Religion
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Andrea Stanton, University of Denver
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