Who Is Protecting Yevgeniy Prigozhin? Speaking of Successors.... Moscow Preparing for the Country’s Disintegration?
What We Are Reading, Hearing, and Watching -- June 2023
Who Is Protecting Yevgeniy Prigozhin?
In a previous report we spoke of the ongoing drama involving Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the propagandist and and leader of the Wagner mercenary army, other rival factions, and the Russian Defense Ministry. How does Prigozhin get away with his outrageous statements, underhanded deals, and even apparent criticism of Putin himself? In a series of interviews, various reputable analysts have tried to explain it.
On May 16, 2023, US-funded news source Radio Liberty interviewed Russian journalist Andrey Zakharov and former Russian politician Maksim Reznik, both in exile, and Ukrainian publicist Leonid Shvets. Quotes from their statements appear in the English-language report “Is Wagner Chief Prigozhin 'A Special Operation Inside A Special Operation'?,'“ and the full interview, published in Russian as “’Kiriyenko Stands Behind Him, and the Kovalchuks Stand Behind Kiriyenko’,” provides more detail. Given Russia’s political landscape of squabbling “clans” and the st…
