Friday, August 25, 2023

The Purge

When it comes to the question of why it took Putin so long to kill Prigozhin after his failed coup, two months to the day, it might be helpful to think about it from Putin’s perspective.

He has long been a ruthless dictator, with the state’s vast surveillance network under his control. Although he was no doubt shocked by Prigozhin’s June 23rd rebellion, once he had quelled that uprising, and branded Prigozhin a traitor, he could have eliminated him immediately.

But Putin is a smart guy. He knew Prigozhin had to have collaborators inside the state power structure to get as close to success as he did, so simply arresting and punishing the ringleader might have left those co-conspirators or enablers in place where they could strike again in the future.

Instead, Putin apparently chose a far more elaborate plan of action. He met with Prigozhin in person and then let him go. He then tracked the traitor’s movements and contacts for the next two months before killing him off in dramatic fashion in Tuesday’s plane crash.

There are reports of other purges and disappearances within Putin’s circle these days as well. No doubt the victims were those who Putin had determined were Prigozhin’s most important allies or sympathizers.

In this way, the dictator maximized his chances of ridding himself of those most actively disloyal to him personally and sent a message to everyone else about the cost of betrayal in the future.

That, at least, is my best guess about what happened.

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