'Wagner, Wagner': Russians cheer for mercenaries as they leave Rostov; rebels fire in air - WATCH
Wagner mercenaries vacated Russia's military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday after boss Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to turn back his forces to prevent bloodshed in the country.
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FollowHours after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to turn back his forces to avoid bloodshed in Russia, videos of residents cheering for the mercenaries in the nation's military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don have now gone viral on social media. Russians gathered on the streets to show support for the rebel group as they were pulling out of the city, chanting "Wagner, Wagner" and telling the fighters to "take care".
After Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus intervened, Prigozhin had consented to put an end to a mutiny against Moscow's military command in exchange for assurances for the fighters' safety. The Kremlin said he would be moving to Belarus as per the agreed deal.
Despite the militia leader's agreement to cease his march on Moscow, observers claim that President Vladimir Putin has been seriously weakened by the stunning mutiny of the Wagner mercenary organisation. The rebellion led by Prigozhin presented Putin with his most significant opposition in his more than two decades of rule. It ended on Saturday, but not before the Wagner group captured Rostov-on-Don in the south and got within 120 miles of Moscow.
On Saturday night, rumours abounded regarding Prigozhin's choice to back down from his challenge to Putin's authority as well as the meaning behind the tumultuous and bizarre insurrection.
Putin, who has held the positions of president or prime minister constantly since 1999, may have appeared to have won this skirmish, but observers in Russia claim that the 70-year-old suffered injuries during the conflict.
Also read: Explained: Why Wagner mercenaries went rogue and 'invaded' Vladimir Putin's Russia
'Putin's worst humilitation'
Garry Kasparov, the chess champion who has become one of the foremost leaders of the Russian democratic opposition, said Putin had been 'humiliated' by Prigozhin. "The game ended with Putin's worst humiliation - a run for his life from Moscow when Prigozhin's army was hundreds of miles away," he told CNN.
"Many of Putin's top officials ran for cover. A dictator relies on his aura of invincibility," Kasparov added.
Putin had never appeared so frail, according to Sergey Sanovich, a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and expert on disinformation and autocracies. He claimed it was an indication of how weak he was that he needed Belarus's ruler Alexander Lukashenko to deal with Prigozhin on his behalf.
"Prigozhin makes a daring move and gets away with it, potentially with additional gains to come. Lukashenko saves the day. Putin reduced to a bystander, complaining on TV and letting his top generals be humiliated. Never in a quarter century Putin looked so ineffectual and hapless," he said.
Sanovich's opinion on Lukashenko's involvement was supported by Michael McFaul, who served as Barack Obama's counsellor on Russia from 2009 to 2011 before going on to become the American ambassador to Moscow.
"Putin could not control a mercenary force that he created & run by his buddy. He had to rely on Lukashenko of all people to cut a deal with a guy he called just hours ago a traitor," he tweeted.
"These are signs of real weakness, not strength," he added.
"What has weakened Putin's grip on power? His disastrous war in Ukraine. The longer the war continues, the weaker Putin's regime becomes. Those that want to avoid Russian state collapse (i.e. Xi) should be pushing Putin to end his war," McFaul noted.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a well-known opponent who was once the richest man in Russia before being imprisoned for ten years by Putin, said he believed Putin's judgement was impaired. Many have hypothesised that the strongman's COVID seclusion has further alienated him from reality and caused him to become delusional. Khodorkovsky claimed that Prigozhin had been gravely misjudged because he had relied far too much on sycophants rather than trustworthy advisors.
"Recently, Putin has been making mistake after mistake, and Prigozhin could become for him a critical mistake. When you are in power for twenty years and everyone tells you what a genius you are, who knows what happens to your consciousness," he said.
Putin partisans minimised the danger, arguing that it was improbable that Prigozhin would ever challenge the Kremlin. According to Sergey Markov, although "extremely aggressive," Prigozhin never posed a threat to Putin.
"They support Prigozhin fighting against Ukrainian army but not against Vladimir Putin," said Markov, claiming Putin's popularity was now at 'about 80 per cent'.
The fact that Prigozhin had instructed Wagner mercenary columns to retreat from an attack on Moscow was described as "really good news" by Markov, who added that "a lot of Moscow are happy about this."
The former American ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, cautioned that the fight was far from over.
"Recall that Gorbachev survived a coup in '91. But he was out of power 4 months later. The coup underscored his essential weakness. Putin will likely survive, for now. But the last 24 hours raise serious questions about his hold on power. Watch this space," he said.
"Next 24-48 hours will be critical. If Prigozhin and Wagner aren't brought to heel, Putin will have blinked. In autocracies, even the smell of weakness rallies the opposition. Putin better watch his back," Daalder added.
