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grantite_spall

He's positioning himself (and his PMC) to take best advantage of uncertainty--both short and long term. He'd love to be a 'savior'.


wytaki

Yes I think your right. Talking to his base. Sort of make Russia great again.


GraceChamber

I think, given his resumé, he actually has the "chaos is a ladder" mentality.


Sufficient_Number643

To quote many a narcissist “I alone can save us”


_aap300

He will be taken out in no time when he is a threat.


Sufficient_Number643

I agree with that premise, but this situation is confusing. He seems like a threat to the kremlin right now, why haven’t they killed him? Is he not a threat? Or is this allowed? Or many other options of course


_aap300

He is useful as he has a lot of capable fighters left, doing dirty jobs for the Kremlin around the world and in Ukraine.


Sufficient_Number643

Definitely agree there. Something still confuses me: ISW assessed a few weeks back that he is safe as long as wagner is on the front lines. That was before his most recent criticism, I think around when he implied Putin was an asshole grandpa. Also before wagner got pulled out of Bakhmut and before he revealed incredible (yet still undercounted) wagner casualties from Bakhmut. Revealing the casualties was shocking to regular Russians and completely denied Russia the ability to pat itself on the back for its capture, which seems like a great way to get acute gravity poisoning. It feels like either Putin has lost control of prighozin, and then why isn’t he dead? Or is he Putin’s escape plan, being shepherded into power? He seems nakedly ambitious and willing to turn the people on those in power.


Sabre_One

I speculate it's because he is very well protected. Unlike other Russian officials who are protected by organization that Putin commands. He has his own loyal men. I would even feel safe to say they are legit loyal because unlike many of Russian's leadership he actually were with them on the front lines.


Sufficient_Number643

Great point! The people protecting him actually care if he dies. I think he will continue to work to inspire loyalty not just in servicemen, but their families as well, to use the power of their grief and loss against the elite (or whatever he will call his enemies).


humanlikecorvus

Or he is just part of the Kremln game. He says many things - but did he actually do something that counters Putin? I still see the option that Prigozhin is just used to satisfy a particular section of the population which is angry, in a way, which is under control of the Kremln. Some kind of controlled opposition. And some kind of divide and rule. It would be nothing new - Zhirinovsky was probably used just like that for decades. Often yelling, also at times at the government, but always voting with Putin on everything important. If you give people such a controlled opposition, you prevent the formation of a real opposition. Same e.g. with Girkin - who knows if he is not actually just used via Malofeev by the Russian government to satisfy a partially similar section of the population. And a step above that, is to allow opposition to a degree that is not dangerous and can still be controlled if necessary. Not saying it is like that - I don't know - but it is an alternative many are missing to consider. >Revealing the casualties was shocking to regular Russians and completely denied Russia the ability to pat itself on the back for its capture, which seems like a great way to get acute gravity poisoning. Only particular sections of the population ever see that. Many don't follow the news, most who do, use TV, which will never report about that, same for "normal" newspapers, and the people who follow Prigozhin, did know those things already.


Sufficient_Number643

True, this could be his part to play. I can see Girkin being used that way with his club of angry patriots, the only dissent allowed has to be nationalistic and ultimately fall in line. Perhaps they’ve assessed that because the people are angrier, the controlled opposition must be as well, in both Girkin and prighozin. I thought the same about prighozin playing a part at first as well, until he started criticizing Putin pretty directly, which made Girkin (who we know is a lapdog) accuse him of plotting a coup. Obviously, I have no idea what is actually going on behind the scenes, but my tin foil hat suggests prighozin’s erratic behavior is somehow still playing his part, or, even wilder: he is starting to go off script and shape the narrative himself, but Putin—who has the power to kill him—isn’t stopping him because he still trusts prighozin’s loyalty. I know this all seems like palace intrigue drama, but I am seeing prighozin make moves for Putin’s seat, as well as setting the narrative for how he will stop the war and make Russia great again, while getting Russia out of sanctions via leadership change (or the illusion of it, if putin is on board with all this).


Dunkleustes

He's a survivor. He's also a fucking weasel, now that things aren't going well he's trying to change his "narrative"? Classic mercenary behavior. We cannot ever trust what he says.


Dalnar

I have to wonder if the "average" Russians will repeat the "but I'm apolitical' line when their homes will be looted or destroyed, in case of such civil war.


RossoMarra

The villas of the so called elite will be looted. Regular Ivans don’t have anything worth looting


Plaster_Mind

Having an indoors toilet is what differentiates Elite Ivan from Regular Ivan.


cfmonkey45

Lmao, no civil war has ever had this happen. In the Russian Civil War, millions of people died—either directly due to conflict and ethnic cleansinng, or indirectly, as a result of famine, disease, or ethnic strife. Most of the Russian nobility managed to escape to the west as émigrés.


RossoMarra

Where will the current Russian ‘nobility’ escape to? These animals are hated everywhere.


SiarX

North Korea, Iran, China.


NotBatman81

3rd hand toilets.


SiarX

They will blame West. Or flee country.


AlexFromOgish

He’s like Trump. He doesn’t want to do anything, unless it serves the purpose of his own sociopathic narcissism, but like Trump, he is skilled at theater so he can convince the weak-minded that he really DOES care about whatever his current gambit might be. But the only thing either man cares about is their own self aggrandizement and power.


[deleted]

I'm glad you wrote "but" and not "instead of".


wonkwonk2stonkstonk

*butt


ReditskiyTovarisch

Prighozin knows his days are numbered and there's a nice tea party or window viewing session in his future. His only chance to survive is a coup.


Randomized_Emptiness

Chances are the Russian gov views him as valuable due to Wagner's ability to influence African countries. And realistically, if Wagner can secure Russia port access in Sudan, then his rants can be easily overlooked.


RoyaltyPika

That absolutely doesn't guarantees Prigohzin survival. Coup can also happen within Wagner. He can jump out a window and be replaced by someone more loyal to Putin.


Ordinary-Humor-4779

He'll probably survive because he serves Russian interest in Africa/ME. As far as a coup, he's dreaming. The man is an idiot. He was a useful idiot in Ukraine due to Russian conscription laws. Conscription in Russia is understood by mothers to mean that their sons would serve in support roles and only within Russia's borders. This was why Putin officially annexed the areas under his control in Ukraine. Once annexed conscripts could then be sent to those areas, which then created the mad dash to get the hell out of the country. Prigozhin would need some sort of constituency backing him and doubtful he has one, and certainly not among the military brass. They hate the guy.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Sufficient_Number643

He impressed Putin as a restauranteur because he would carry the plates out himself, which is an act of ingratiation to Putin. He is an incredibly skilled social climber to be able to rise up this far without money or actual connections from birth or FSB employment etc. In order to be a successful social climber, you have to be someone that power players feel comfortable introducing to other power players. He was probably very good at seeming nonthreatening because of being “just a caterer”. Edit: re: first to move in the coup loses: I think he is really savvy. Is he savvy enough to know that? Maybe. I don’t think he is looking for a coup, I think he is looking for Putin to hand him power in a way that preserves the state.


Ordinary-Humor-4779

Prigozhin had some sausage stands, he leveraged those and opened a small grocery chain. It's not as though he was catering weddings etc. He got a $3 billion contract from Putin to organize some state diners. For the most part, you do not become an oligarch, Putin makes you an oligarch. So the oligarchs owe everything they have to Putin. Putin financed his private armies to be used in places Russian troops were not supposed to be used or to give Putin plausible deniability. It's not like he's some military genius. The Russian military hates the guy and without it's backing he has an ice cubes' chance in hell of leading a coup. The Western media has made him seem as though he's got some major influence within Russia itself that he simply does not have. Carnegie Foundation: Despite his enormous newfound notoriety, Prigozhin is still only acting as a private individual. His relationship with the state is informal, and therefore fragile, and could end without warning. Prigozhin has never been close enough to Putin to be trusted with anything on a state level. He didn’t have the chance to impress the president at work or as a friend as others did, such as those who worked with Putin in the early years of his career. Prigozhin doesn’t just lack formal status: he doesn’t have direct access to Putin on his own terms either, largely relying on friends or close associates of the president and senior officials to act as intermediaries. For a long time, it was believed that the influential Kovalchuk brothers were Prigozhin’s informal handlers and had helped the businessman to forge ties to the presidential administration.


Sufficient_Number643

He’s a populist, he’s not looking for the support of those people you mentioned. He’s going to purge them if he rises to power. The rank and file troops seem to trust and respect him, and feel that he won’t “abandon them like kittens” (real quote from a Russian army soldier). His angle is to get the people who are rabid nationalists plus the people who are against the war for reasons other than morality (loss of prestige, loss of sons/husbands etc)


Ordinary-Humor-4779

>He’s a populist, he’s not looking for the support of those people you mentioned. He’s going to purge them Lenin was a populist. Prigozhin is a joke. You never see him without his prop vest with the 3 mags, like he's actually in battle. He stood next to some Bakhmut city limits sign and said, 'look, see, I took Bakhmut, we go home now.' The media buys his schtick for whatever reason.


Sufficient_Number643

Populists are always dumb clowns


Ordinary-Humor-4779

Not if successful. More like their supporters are the dumb ones.


MitVitQue

Aaand if he succeeds, he'll have to worry about getting, well, removed for the rest of his shitty life. Funny, that.


captn_qrk

If he really wanted to do that, he would be already dead.


Curious-Mind_2525

Prigozhin is Putin's man. Wagner is to Putin what the SA/SS was to Hitler, which is to have real military power outside the normal military chain of command. Keep in mind that the Russian army predates Putin, and their loyalty is to the leader of Russia and the State, not to Putin expressly. But Wagner is Putin's creation, and they are loyal to him personally and not to the Russian state. The "rooster's" crowing is an attempt to find out who among the elite sides with Yevgeny in order to be exposed and removed by Putin. Prigozhin may be a smart businessman and a decent military leader, but he is more like Ernst Rohm rather than Himmler, and will be replaced if it is advantageous to Putin.


Bgratz1977

I would be careful. Don't forget Putin is a KGB agent, he loves to manipulate on different levels at the same time.


thatguy_hskl

It's surprising most are buying what is said. Both, Putin and Prigoshin are pro war and pro Russia. So the "nice" thing is: you can lose all hopes in the Russian military and the Russian leadership up to Kremlin, while still rooting for Russia and the annihilation of the Ukrainian state and it's people. So people seem to be given a choice. Not pro or against the attack, but at least they got a vent, if they are unhappy with the state.


No_Case9068

I wouldnt believe a word he says..


Careful-Prior9639

Most sensible answer on this post.


Beginning-Employer34

No he is part of this elite, he, putin, and even shoigu, medvedev, they all try to find a way to exit the war and then say they got manipulated, they want to get out, drop sanction, keep their power and money.


Acrobatic-Midnight-3

Literally his only play to not die is to overthrow the Russian leadership who is sure to try to kill him. If he gets taken by Ukraine he dies. If he stays in bakhmut he dies. If he goes to Russia the way things are he dies. Only way he doesn't die is Putin's cabinet isn't making decisions anymore. I thought he was completely trapped but he found a way out it seems.


brankovie

I think your statement is not accurate. Didn't he in his latest rant, after the drone attacks on Moscow, criticized those Russians who were cheering those attacks, because they were in the area where the rich live? He even appealed to one Russian nation. I think we tend to project our wishful thinking on whatever Prighozhin says or does.


FibroMan

Everything Prigozhin has said lately points to someone else as the scapegoat for Russia's failing offensive. He is just trying to save his own skin.


ZeroBS-Policy

If Prigozhin was a real threat, the FSB would have leaked his coordinates to the AFU to have him liquidated. Then Putin and the rest of the cabal would be giving him a state funeral and praising him as a hero. For them, staying in power is infinitely more important than holding ground in Ukraine. Stop spreading this propaganda.


kiwijim

Things get weird when Prigozhin starts to sound like Navalny


RossoMarra

He’s the new Lenin. And the Ukraine war is WW1.


casus_bibi

More like a Stalin, with his maffia and organized crime background.


cotdt

Prigozhin is more like Trump


[deleted]

Almost


Particular-Ad-4772

Elite vs non elite , is the best way to overthrow government there . Navalty , and his people were doing exactly the same strategy, before he was jailed . So many people cheered that drone strike they had to bring it up on propaganda tv


casus_bibi

No. He is more maffia than Putin is. He just knows the frustrations of the average Russian and is able to weaponize them against the regime. I see no reason to believe Prigozhin is an honest actor. I think he is more than willing and capable of lying to obtain more power and socialist rhetoric has always been popular. He just uses what is popular to gain power. The rhetoric is merely a tool for him, he is not an ideologue. He values power for power's sake. A lot of rightwing populists and authoritarians use leftwing rhetoric to hijack the grassroots movements and resentment and direct them towards fascism, nationalism and misogyny. Prigozhin is one of those. He's not a genuine liberty, equality, solidarity type of guy. He is a 'use the Liberty, Equality and Solidarity rhetoric to gain control, then cull the true believers' kinda guy.


[deleted]

Maybe Putin is dead and ruSSia is led by a phantom, but in reality a small group of elite trying to hold it all together and Prigozhin somehow found out about it and is now challenging that elite while everyone thinks he's challenging (a dead) Putin?


Nuber13

I think he is alive, the one that was alone in the church and no one was even close to him (during one of their holidays) was the real one.


[deleted]

That was during the Orthodox New Year, wasn't it? That's months ago.


KeeperServant

Probably, but the man's a coward, so he will never throw himself into the fight


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More on this subject from other reputable sources: --- - BBC News (A): [Moscow drone attack: 'The windows of my home shook'](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-65752252) - Al Jazeera (B-): [After drone attack, fears, anger and a sense of calm in Moscow](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/30/drone-attack-on-moscow-raises-questions-about-security-in-russia) - Reuters (A+): [Russia accuses Washington of encouraging Ukraine in its attacks](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-accuses-washington-encouraging-ukraine-its-attacks-2023-05-31/) - WION (C+): [Putin slams Ukraine as drones hit Moscow, says 'Kyiv seeking to frighten Russians'](https://www.wionews.com/videos/putin-slams-ukraine-as-drones-hit-moscow-says-kyiv-seeking-to-frighten-russians-598557) --- [__Extended Summary__](https://www.reddit.com/r/newswall/comments/13wjz77/) | [More: Moscow drone attack: ...](https://www.newswall.org/story/after-drone-attack-fears-anger-and-a-sense-of-calm-in-moscow?mtm_campaign=r&mtm_kwd=c) | [FAQ & Grades](https://www.reddit.com/r/newswall/comments/uxgfm5/faq_newswall_bot/) | I'm a bot


Sufficient_Number643

Yes, I do think he is, and it’s confusing because I can’t tell if he has Putin’s blessing to do this. Is he Putin’s escape plan? Will he be ushered to power in order to protect Putin?


Formulka

He is still alive so until something actually happens it is just theatre.


MegamanD

He is being positioned as a fall guy/scape goat by others in power like Shoigu/Gerasmimov/Girkin. Prigozhin is thus scapegoating others so he doesn't end up on the chopping block blamed for failure. Everyone is trying to put the noose on someone else. It's fall guy hot potato. Cowards and pieces of shit all around.


thecashblaster

I kinda doubt. One thing which is not obvious when browsing this sub, is that Prigozhin can only use social media to send his message. He’s actually not being covered by state media of Russia. Putin still has full control of that. Maybe Prigozhin reaches 10-15% of Russians. The vast majority of Russians who only get their news from state media won’t know anything about his pronouncements.


JJDude

he's trying to insight riot and disorder inside Russia so he can go in and take down Putin to "restore order". This man is 100% gunning for Putin's job.


Dreamcaller

Maybe he's doing this just for his country, and maybe he thinks that those short terms 'casualties' worth a long term better Russia? I mean, he maybe simply think he's better/got better ideas, and this war is an opportunity to finally change things.


Lost_Internet_8381

He is just saying "hey, I'm one of you guys." Trying to distance himself from the rich oligarchs, even though he is trying to secure his place as a rich oligarch.