Russian President Vladimir Putin with Donald Trump, Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018
I joined Times Radio’s Rosie Wright on Friday morning to analyze the latest developments over Vladimir Putin’s possible assassination of Wagner Group mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin — and to consider the military and political consequences in Russia, Ukraine, and areas like the Middle East and Africa.
If Putin is showing, “Cross me and you do so at your peril”, that is only for the short term. In the longer term, there is real discontent inside Russia, even if it is silent or quietly expressed — with the way the war in Ukraine is going, with Russia suffering economically, and Russia’s political isolation.
We also consider how Putin’s salvation, amid his failing invasion of Ukraine, might lie in Donald Trump winning a second term.
If Donald Trump — a man who expressed admiration for Vladmir Putin, a man who supported Russia’s seizure of Crimea — comes into the White House in January 2025, it is a significant threat not just to Ukraine but to the “rules of the game” of international order since 1945.
Listen to Full Discussion from 40:16
Watch Extract
“There were people within Russia’s military that sympathised with Prigozhin.”
Vladimir Putin had to “draw a line” on the fact that many of Russia’s military personnel sympathised with Prigozhin as a way of asserting power, foreign policy specialist Scott Lucas tells #TimesRadio. pic.twitter.com/N70RqxLcoz
— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) August 25, 2023
EA on UK and International Media: From Trump’s Georgia Arrest to the 1st GOP Debate
Proud Boy political prisoners sentenced for “seditious conspiracy”: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/two-leaders-proud-boys-sentenced-prison-seditious-conspiracy-and-other-charges-related-us
Republican says Congress ‘kept in dark’ as Iran envoy saga develops: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/08/republican-says-congress-kept-dark-iran-envoy-saga-develops#ixzz8BrX9hffe
“The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee demanded answers from the US State Department on Monday night after Iranian outlets published details about the suspension of Iran envoy Rob Malley.”
Prigozhin was not satisfied with Putin’s attrition strategy in Ukraine because he wanted Putin to utilise the full potential of the Russian military in Ukraine. Prigozhin felt that Russia’s slow-grinding of the Ukrainian military was taking too long. Many people in Russia favour the shock-and-awe tactics the US and UK employed in Iraq. But, in Putin’s view, shock and awe could result in direct NATO involvement, which he is trying to avoid. Russia’s attrition strategy is taking a long time, but it’s working.