The information about the alleged liquidation of the head of the private military company "Wagner," Yevgeny Prigozhin, as a result of an aviation crash in Russia, has been commented on by the Office of the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the Office of the President, stated in a comment to UNIAN that what happened was a managed aviation crash. "... Several important conclusions can already be drawn. The only interested party is only the Russian dictator."
According to him, "Putin never forgives his own fear."
"Furthermore, he does not forgive a massive public humiliation, compounded by the personal betrayal of yesterday's favorite. And Putin, I remind you, was extremely frightened in June 2023 when Prigozhin organized a march on Moscow. Frightened in all senses - he realized that there was no power vertical and no control," Podolyak stated.
According to the advisor, the "Prigozhin revolt," even though unsuccessful, unequivocally and swiftly destroyed all the myths that the Russian president had been building for years - myths about his strength, myths about omnipresent security forces that totally control the "Wagnerites," myths about the loyalty of the elite, myths about his unconditional electoral popularity - all of it collapsed.
In the Office of the President, they added that "the most important thing is that he showed everyone, including Western elites, that Putin knows how to hysterically fear, knows how to panic, knows how to quickly run away and knows how to hide."
"In essence, in my view, Prigozhin had not a single chance of survival. By stopping his own rebellious march 200 kilometers before Moscow, he signed his own absolute death sentence. The question was only when, how, and in what manner it would be executed. In classic Russian tradition, Putin did it as demonstratively, illustratively, and timely as possible," the advisor to the head of the Office of the President said.
Podolyak believes that the dictator is thus trying to compensate for his own fears experienced in June, partly restore his reputation, and regain control over the elites by showing them the consequences of any disloyalty.
"Undoubtedly, Russia is entering turbulent times, when suspicion will be manifested through strange deaths of representatives of the Putin clan," he added.
