Putin is planning revenge on Wagner chief for his failed mutiny, CIA chief warns, as he warns Yevgeny Prigozhin: ‘Don’t fire your food taster’
Putin plans revenge on Wagner chief for his botched mutiny, warns CIA chief, warning Yevgeny Prigozhin: ‘Don’t send off your food taster’
- “Putin generally thinks revenge is a dish best served cold,” said William Burns
Vladimir Putin is the “ultimate apostle of vengeance” and is likely plotting his revenge against Yevgeny Prigozhin after the Wagner group’s failed mutiny, the head of the CIA said.
“If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my taster,” CIA director William Burns warned the mercenary chief.
The intelligence chief said Wagner PMC’s failed mutiny exposed “significant weaknesses” in the Kremlin’s power structure and saw Russia’s justification for the war in Ukraine questioned, with Prigozhin claiming it was based on lies.
The brief mutiny was Putin’s most immediate challenge in his 23 years in power, one that Burns said would not be taken lightly.
“Putin is someone who generally thinks 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 retaliation.”
“If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster,” CIA director William Burns warned the mercenary chief at the Aspen Security Forum
The leader of Wagner’s mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, speaks at the headquarters of the military command center of the Russian Southern Army in the city of Rostov-on-Don on June 2.
Putin seemingly struck a deal, brokered by his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, to allow Prigozhin and his men free passage to Belarus after they retreated in their coup attempt.
But it is by no means a case of forgive and forget, with Burns claiming that Putin is simply buying time as he figures out how best to deal with his treacherous former chef.
In June, the Russian leader described the advance of the Wagner group towards Moscow as “a stab in the back of the troops and people of Russia.”
“What we’re seeing is a very complicated dance,” Burns said on Thursday, according to the BBC.
Burns also claimed that Russian elites are increasingly questioning Putin’s judgment, especially after the Wagner group’s mutinous 24 Hours in June, when it seemed they could make it all the way to Moscow.
“What it raised were some deeper questions … about Putin’s judgment, about his relative detachment from events and even about his indecisiveness,” Burns said.
Vladimir Putin described the Wagner group’s march to Moscow as “a stab in the back of the troops and people of Russia.”
His comments come after the head of Britain’s secret intelligence agency, MI6, delivered a stark message to Putin yesterday, telling him to withdraw from Ukraine or risk being overthrown.
Sir Richard Moore said the only way the Russian leader could ensure his “career stability” and save his skin from the “chaos replaying itself in the Russian political body” was by withdrawing Russian troops.
In a rare public speech, he made an extraordinary call for Russians to spy for MI6, otherwise known as the Secret Intelligence Service. He compared the fate of their country to Shakespeare’s doomed Hamlet.
“Putin cannot have an experience where one of his closest protégés turns against his defense minister and his chief of general staff in the first place, you have a huge explosion in the Kremlin that results in troops, heavily armed troops, coming in Advancing 125 km (77 miles) from Moscow.
‘He must realize, I’m sure, that something is profoundly wrong in the state of Denmark, to quote Hamlet. It was quite humiliating – he had to make a deal to save his own skin.’