Putin's payback & Prigozhin's predicament: CIA chief warns of revenge plot after Wagner's failed mutiny

The head of the CIA, William Burns, has labeled Vladimir Putin as the "ultimate apostle of payback" and warned Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner group, to be cautious. Burns stated that Putin is likely plotting his revenge following the Wagner PMC's failed mutiny, which exposed significant weaknesses in the Kremlin's power structure and raised doubts about Russia's justification for the war in Ukraine.

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"If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn't fire my food taster," William Burns, director of the CIA warned the mercenary chief.

According to Burns, the brief mutiny by the Wagner group posed a direct challenge to Putin's 23-year rule, something the Russian leader would not take lightly. He described Putin as someone who believes in exacting revenge coldly. Burns pointed out that Putin seemingly allowed Prigozhin and his men to leave Russia for Belarus after they abandoned their coup attempt.

"Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold," Burns told the Aspen Security Forum last night, adding that he "would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution."

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Putin reportedly struck an arrangement with Alexander Lukashenko, his counterpart in Belarus, to grant Prigozhin and his men free transit to Belarus after they abandoned their coup attempt. However, Burns asserts that it is far from a matter of "forgive and forget," and that instead, Putin is merely buying time as he determines how to best deal with his traitorous former chief. The Wagner Group's march on Moscow, according to the Russian president in June, was "a stab in the back of the troops and the people of Russia."

"What we are seeing is a very complicated dance," Burns said on Thursday, according to the BBC.

The head of the CIA also revealed that Russian elites are increasingly questioning Putin's judgment, especially in light of the Wagner group's actions. "What it resurrected was some deeper questions … about Putin's judgment, about his relative detachment from events and even about his indecisiveness," Burns said.

In addition to Burns' warning, the head of the UK's secret intelligence service, MI6, Sir Richard Moore, delivered a stark message to Putin, urging him to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine to avoid potential overthrow. Moore emphasized that Putin's career stability and the stability of Russia itself are at risk if he does not pull out of Ukraine. In a rare public address, Moore even appealed to Russians to spy for MI6 and compared the situation to Shakespeare's play "Hamlet," implying a looming crisis within Russia.

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"Putin cannot live through an experience where one of his closest proteges turns upon primarily on his defence minister and his chief of general staff, you have a massive blow-up in the Kremlin that leads to troops, heavily armed troops, advancing within 125km (77 miles) of Moscow. He has to realise, I'm sure, that something is deeply wrong in the state of Denmark, to quote Hamlet. It was pretty humiliating – he had to go and cut a deal to save his own skin," Moore had said.

• Russia
• Ukraine
• Vladimir Putin
• CIA
• Belarus
• Wagner
• Yevgeny Prigozhin