It has never been possible to link Vladimir Putin to the deaths of various Russian businessmen, dissidents, senior officials or journalists who were poisoned, shot or simply fell from their homes. And surely no one will be able to prove his involvement in the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, who dared to defy the Russian president with an attempted coup. If all the precedents of Boris Nemtsov, Alexander Subbotin, Alexander Litvinenko or Anna Politkovskaya did not exist, some might even believe that the explosion of the aircraft where Prigozhin was traveling could have been the work of a Ukrainian drone. After all, Russia and Ukraine are at war. But the list of Putin’s enemies who have fallen under strange circumstances is so long that it is hard to think of coincidences or other reasons. “I forgive everything, except treason” is one of the head phrases of the Russian president.
After hours of resounding silence, Putin himself spoke in a kind of obituary where he praised the dead businessman and promised to investigate the causes of the incident until the end. Among the phrases that he pronounced facing the gallery, he distilled one with a double meaning: “He was a man with a difficult fate and who made serious mistakes in life.” Surely the most serious was trying to overthrow Putin without having secured the support of the Russian army.
The removal of Prigozhin, regardless of whether the involvement of the Kremlin can be proven or not, is a warning for sailors in Russia. Putin does not allow dissidence: either you are with him or the alternative is jail, death or exile. The Wagner leader had reached an agreement with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, and with Putin himself, but his mere presence roaming freely and with the loudspeakers provided by his regular presence on social networks made him an uncontrolled element. . And Putin, who has, in one way or another, commanded the Kremlin for 23 years, is not here to leave loose ends.
