“Russian elites are tired of the war and want to get out of it” Expert opinions on Caliber.Az

The situation with the stability of the upper echelons of power in Russia raises more and more questions and doubts. Striking for many was the news that Vladimir Putin, it turns out, held talks in the Kremlin with the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a few days after he uncompromisingly assessed the armed rebellion led by him as treason.

The meeting with Prigozhin, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, took place on June 29, five days after the failed coup in what was widely considered the biggest challenge to Putin since he took office.

Much of what happened on June 24, the day of the riot, and how the Russian authorities deal with its aftermath, remains unclear.

The fact that the PMC leader and his top field commanders met with Putin in the Kremlin days after the Russian leader called their actions a "treacherous stab in the back" that could have plunged Russia into the chaos of civil war will no doubt cause even more questions about what is happening behind the scenes, Reuters notes.

Peskov told reporters that Putin invited 35 people to the three-hour meeting, including Prigozhin and field commanders of the Wagner PMC, and at the same time stated that “the only thing we can say is that the president gave his assessment of the actions of the company (Wagner) in front during the "special military operation" (in Ukraine), and also gave his assessment of the events of June 24 (the day of the rebellion). The spokesman also noted that Putin listened to the explanations of the commanders of what happened and offered them options for possible employment and participation in hostilities.

As you know, the rebellion, which Putin compared to the unrest on the eve of the Russian revolution in 1917, was crushed as a result of a deal brokered by Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Since then, Putin and the Kremlin have sought to create the impression that nothing has changed, that everything is going “as usual”: the president chaired a number of meetings, attended events in Dagestan.

Meanwhile, the French newspaper Liberation, citing sources in Western intelligence, reports that Prigozhin also visited the Kremlin on July 1 – where he met with Putin, as well as with the director of the National Guard, Army General Viktor Zolotov, and the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin.

And the Belarus President Lukashenka said on July 6 that the founder of the Wagner PMC is not in his country, but in St. Petersburg. To which, the Kremlin reported that they were not following Prigozhin’s movements, but recalled that his “departure” to Belarus was one of the conditions for refusing the “justice march” he had announced.

Well-known Russian experts shared their thoughts on this with Caliber.az.

Sociologist and professor at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences Grigory Yudin has no doubt that Prigozhin's rebellion and the events that followed have put Putin's reputation as Russia's tough, one-man and undisputed leader in question.

“Suppose Putin understands that he risks losing everything against the background of such events that are visible to everyone - and then what? Why should we assume that Putin is omnipotent? Putin was in no position to dictate terms. He had a solid military group near Moscow, ready to occupy the city - despite the fact that his own army was not eager to resist,” says Yudin.

In her turn, as Olga Kurnosova, a political analyst and editor-in-chief of the After Empire portal, said “a lot of things are happening now”.

“Another important thing that we saw during the rebellion is that when the Russian authorities saw Prigozhin’s strength, they immediately started negotiations. And it doesn't matter who formally conducted these negotiations. In any case, carte blanche for their conduct was received from Vladimir Putin. Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether Lukashenka was this “talking head” or Dyumin - all the same, these are negotiations that the leadership of the Russian Federation conducted under the influence of force,” Kurnosova stressed.

And Vladimir Putin’s entourage, the analyst believes, is doing everything to ensure that he still thinks that he has nothing to lose. “What we saw after the end of the Prigozhin rebellion is, on the one hand, an attempt to play everything back somehow in a PR way.

“Undoubtedly, some profound events are now taking place within the Russian elites. Everyone is wildly tired of the war and is trying to find a way out of this situation with the least losses. And in this sense, of course, Putin interferes with the Russian elites. Because it is clear that it is much more difficult to get out of the war with Putin than without him. Therefore, the elites will also look for a way out, the expert believes.

“As for the person of Prigozhin, O. Kurnosova believes that he certainly caught what is called "star fever". And for the past few months, he really fancied himself a presidential candidate. Accordingly, his rebellion began precisely as a campaign against Moscow, with a claim to the presidency.

“But he counted on the fact that people, the local population, the military would join him along the way, and when he reached Moscow, it would be something that would bring him to the Kremlin in his arms. Actually, when this idea did not materialize, when he continued to go only with those with whom he went at first, then he realized that if he succeeded in taking Moscow in such numbers, then with huge losses, and it is not clear whether or not he will survive. Exactly at that moment, Prigozhin turned back,” concluded Olga Kurnosova.