Paranoid Vladimir Putin fears he will face another armed uprising despite the death of coup leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in last week’s plane crash.
Putin “believes that after Prigozhin’s assassination in Russia there is a threat of another military uprising,” said The Moscow Times, citing sources close to the Kremlin.
There are concerns that Wagner hardliners are directly blaming Putin for Prigozhin’s death and seeking retribution.
His regime has “instructed the secret services to prepare for the threat of a new military uprising.”
According to several reports, the Kremlin has decided that the funeral of Prigozhin and his associates who died in last week’s plane crash should be banned in order to become a major public event.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the acting governor of the Omsk region, Vitaly Khotsenko, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, August 28, 2023
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane crashes in Russia’s Tver region on August 23, 2023
Members of the Wagner Group military company guard an area while others load their tank onto a truck on the street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023
A flag with the logo of the private mercenary group Wagner waves above a portrait of the deceased head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, at a makeshift memorial in Moscow, August 27, 2023
There were signs that a massive security operation was being mounted at the Serafimovsky cemetery in St Petersburg, where the quiet burials of at least some Wagner figures reportedly began today.
Putin was shocked by Prigozhin’s earlier mutiny and his intelligence services have been ordered to stop any new Wagner rally that could turn into another march on Moscow.
“Tanks approaching less than 200 kilometers from Moscow made an indelible impression on Vladimir Putin, who ruled for more than 20 years,” reports The Moscow Times.
“Prigozhin not only defied the army command, but also disobeyed a personal order from the president and was therefore considered a threat to the regime,” four sources told the paper.
Putin wants Wagner’s mercenary army to be disbanded, even if it was his invention, using his once-loyal henchman Prigozhin as its head.
In the future, all members of private military companies like Wagner must declare allegiance to the Russian state – and to Putin.
“Many members of Wagner believe that authorities may be behind Prigozhin’s death,” said Oleg Ignatov, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
“And the authorities cannot ignore such risks.”
This comes as the Kremlin prepares to rig next year’s Russian presidential election to ban youthful rival candidates who would make the dictator, 70, appear like a “grandfather.”
Another extraordinary report from the independent media outlet Meduza indicates that Putin is — illegally — banning young candidates from next March’s Russian presidential election, when the dictator will be 71, and demanding a six-year term in office that will take him to age 77.
A prominent rival candidate, 47-year-old Alexei Navalny, was sentenced this month to a further 19 years in prison, barring him from posing any political threat to Putin.
Only stooge candidates will be admitted after being ‘screened’ by Putin officials.
People stand next to an informal street memorial to the members of the Wagner Group military group who died in a plane crash
A woman lays a candle at a makeshift memorial to the late head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in Moscow
Another younger candidate Vladislav Davankov, 39, deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, risks a suspension because he is considered too young.
“An energetic young candidate could get voters thinking about the president’s age,” the report said.
A source said: “This would not be a flattering contrast.”
Two Kremlin insiders told Meduza that “politicians under the age of 50 were deliberately excluded from the nomination because a younger candidate on the ballot could make voters pause and wonder if 70-year-old Putin is still the same person.” who came to power. with a firm hand”.’
Putin’s main rival is expected to be 78-year-old Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party.
He will not pose a threat to Putin because “he will not attract new voters beyond his existing petrified electorate.”
A younger communist candidate has been barred from his term of office.
Another rival is expected to be 55-year-old Leonid Slutsky, leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, who has been accused by female journalists of being a sexual predator.
He is seen as a “serious man in a suit”, but his “personal rank is low” and he will not pose a threat to Putin.
In the 2018 presidential election, glamorous TV star Ksenia Sobchak (41), also known as Putin’s “goddaughter,” stood against him.
It’s unclear if she’ll do that again.
She has known Putin since she was a child and he was present at her baptism, but she has liberal credentials.
Still, she poses no serious threat to him and scores less than two percent of the vote.
Despite rumors of ill health, it seems that Putin has no intention of quitting and intends to remain in the Kremlin for life.