Vladimir Putin cops mortal blow to leadership, future after Wagner Group coup

The outcome of the 24-coup leaves the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “massively humiliated” and with his “authority severely weakened”, writes Charles Miranda.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may have averted a bloody civil war but politically he has sustained a mortal blow to his leadership, authority and future.

The Russian leader was already under immense pressure domestically after clearly underestimating the ability of his military forces to capture Ukraine.

Now the mercenary army he created and called up to conquer Ukraine was publicly questioning his authority.

The outcome of the 24-hour coup leaves maniacal Putin massively humiliated, looking utterly incompetent with his authority severely weakened.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has sustained a mortal blow to his leadership, authority and future, following the Wagner Group’s attempted coup. Picture: AFP

A year ago most ordinary Russians would not have heard of Yevgeny Prigozhin but then he conquered the Ukraine city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces seemingly could not do, and was on every TV screen in Russia waving the Russian tricolour flag.

Now here he was in open defiance and threatening to topple the Kremlin or at least its military leadership. And apparently now has won concessions.

Putin, whose authority has rarely been so openly challenged, came out with unprecedented rhetoric condemning the mercenary group whom he vowed “would pay” for the uprising.

But then he crumbled, agreed to not prosecute anyone if they withdrew, a stunning about-face the detail of which is still not being made public.

It will be interesting to see if or how he had recover from this.

Members of Wagner Group sit on the sidewalk as they patrol the centre of Rostov-on-Don, on Saturday. Picture: AFP

He was humiliated and to rub salt in the wound as Wagner troops withdrew they were cheered by hundreds of Russians who lined the streets about the military stronghold of Rostov which Wagner had conquered earlier in the day.

Putin’s fitness to lead the country let alone the Ukraine war is now under question, some western strategists suspecting he cannot come back from this and will become even more isolationist.

There is no way Prigozhin and Wagner will just slip into retirement in a Belarusian resort.

The whole situation leaves Putin, Russia and Western Europe in a very dangerous position.