President Vladimir Putin maintains efforts to reassert his authority and project an image of normality after the mutiny by Wagner’s mercenaries, the most serious challenge to his power after 23 years in power. The Russian leader was seen on Wednesday afternoon surrounded by admirers on the streets of Derbent, in the Dagestan region.
Putin will speak at a forum titled “Strong Ideas for a New Time” in Moscow on Thursday, an annual event whose title has taken on unexpected symbolism after the rebellion of Wagner’s leader Yevgeni Prigozhin’s forces came within 200 kilometers of the capital.
The president returned to Moscow overnight from the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, where he held talks with regional leaders on promoting tourism development. There was no mention of Saturday’s riot, although an official thanked Putin for his visit “at such a difficult time.”
In an unusual image, state television showed Putin mingling with cheering local residents, and he could be seen kissing a girl on the head and posing for a selfie with her. This attitude contrasts with the strict covid quarantine measures that the Kremlin has long maintained to prevent a possible infection of the 70-year-old leader.
Despite the effort to show that the crisis is history, questions remain about the extent to which elements of the army and security services were aware of Prigozhin’s plan to march on Moscow to oust senior Defense Ministry officials. .
Sergei Surovikin, a top general repeatedly praised by Prigozhin for his leadership in the war, has not been seen since the mutiny ended.
Putin put Surovikin in charge of the Russian army in Ukraine in October, but he was replaced as commanding general in January by army chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, one of two men along with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, which Prigozhin had promised to overthrow.
Surovikin was last seen in a video posted on the Defense Ministry’s Telegram channel on Saturday urging Prigozhin and his forces to halt their uprising and “obey the will and order” of the president.
The New York Times reported that Surovikin knew something of Prigozhin’s rebellion plans, citing unnamed US officials who said that other Russian generals may also have supported leader Wagner’s attempt to oust the Defense Ministry leadership.
The dizzying chain of events has left the United States, Europe and China stumped by the political fallout from a rebellion that shattered Putin’s invincible image as Russia’s leader. The crisis has brought to light bitter divisions within Russia over the faltering war in Ukraine, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, while the Ukrainian counter-offensive continues to try to drive Putin’s forces out of the occupied territories.
