, Columnist
Putin Is Weakened. His System Isn’t.
Russia’s predatory system of bureaucrats, officers, managers and media personalities won’t object to change at the top — as long as they can count on getting fed.
The real systemic threat.
Photographer: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
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Last week’s mutiny attempt by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary army has undoubtedly weakened Vladimir Putin personally: He publicly promised a forceful response and a harsh punishment for the “traitors,” then accepted a compromise brokered by Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and allowed Prigozhin to leave the country unpunished, with pretty much his entire force.
The more important question, however, is whether the turbulence has weakened the system that runs Russia.