🎧 Emergency Update on Events Unfolding in Russia
🎧 Emergency Update on Events Unfolding in Russia
Garry Kasparov and Uriel Epshtein discuss what Prigozhin’s “rebellion” means for the future of Putin’s regime.
Appears in this episode
This morning, in a move that resulted from Russia’s failures in Ukraine, Wagner forces under mercenary leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin seized the city of Rostov-on-Don without firing a shot and began advancing towards Moscow.
This represents a serious escalation of the long-simmering tensions between the Russian mercenary group and the official military authorities, but more importantly it finally puts to bed the lie that Putin is some kind of strategic mastermind. Prigozhin, with a few thousand men, was essentially able to defy the entire Russian government and move forward almost unopposed.
A few hours later, it appears that Act I of this drama concluded with Prigozhin announcing that his forces were “turning around our columns and returning to field camps according to plan.” This isn’t the end of this intra-Russian conflict, but merely an intermission. Reverberations from Prigozhin’s rebellion will continue to be felt for weeks in both Russia and on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Ultimately, the single greatest impact of this surprise turn of events is demonstrating to both Russian citizens and the world at large that the Emperor has no clothes. For all of Putin’s posturing, he presides over a Potemkin village whose power—both military and otherwise—has clearly been overstated.
Join RDI Chairman Garry Kasparov and RDI Executive Director Uriel Epshtein for a special episode to analyze what’s been going on and stay tuned as events continue to unfold.
🎧 Emergency Update on Events Unfolding in Russia
Yes, agreeing with the key conclusions here in the last 4 and a half minutes against authoritarianism including by Garry saying: “What I think is also important for the free world to also learn is that: the idea that you can secure liberalization of dictatorships by open trade and concessions has failed spectacularly again—again and again. But Putin’s Russia is a reminder that the foreign policy that ignores moral values is a guaranteed failure. And I hope these lessons that have been so expensive if we look at the crimes that have been committed by Putin’s regime, from carpet bombing of Grozny to Republic of Georgia to Aleppo and to Mariupol and so on, there’s a huge price that has been paid for the West’s ignorance, naïveté and greed. So, if we learn from these lessons, if we start building a new world based on our current experience and also historical lessons, I think we have a chance to actually — to demonstrate that the world can be organized in a much more effective fashion…” and by Uriel saying that, “what an incredible opportunity to strike a blow against authoritarianism and to give Ukrainians absolutely everything they need to take back their country and all their territory…”, etc.
Prigosjin to ‘visit’ Lukashenko? Wouldn’t be surprised if Luka dies soon and Prigosjin ‘gets’ Belarus from Putin. Wagner gets his own country, second front in north of Ukraine, Putin saved, another People enslaved… hope not.