The powerful leader of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who dared to challenge Vladimir Putin more than ever before, even going so far as to organize an armed uprising and start a march on Moscow, is dead. The head of the private military company was the victim of a plane crash, or rather what Putin called a “special landing operation.” The fate of the jet he flew with his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin and eight others is being investigated. However, there is not a single person in the world who thinks that Putin is not behind this business.

The Kremlin leader may even be innocent, or even truly innocent this time, but even his closest collaborators won’t believe it. And it doesn’t matter much whether he ordered the crash, for the message was loud and clear: Don’t mess with me because you’ll end up in jail (if you’re lucky) or go underground, no matter how powerful or popular you are.

Exactly two months ago, when Prigozhin shocked the world by staging an armed uprising in Russia, Putin swore, “Those responsible for this betrayal will pay the price.” Never in his more than 20 years in power had he been challenged so recklessly, in such an incredible way, which made him look weak for the first time. An inexcusable setback. However, for two months Prigozhin and his loyal men (many of the Wagner mercenaries decided to join the regular army) were able to continue their activities without interruption, only by having to change their headquarters from Russia, where they were actually located. banned in neighboring Belarus. An extremely light punishment for the putschists.

A few days ago, the leader of the mercenaries had taken the liberty of publishing one of his now-famous videos, in which he claimed to save Africa from Islamist terrorists and allowed Putin to appear weak once again. Running around the world the man who made him look stupid. But Putin is not stupid. And he is certainly not weak, but he is and will remain a strong and ruthless leader. And he proved it once again. She pretended to be Salvatore Conte, the boss of the Gomorra series, who pretended to forgive the little Daniele who betrayed him with Prigozhin. In one of the show’s scariest scenes, he says to her, “Come. Comet’ a piglia ‘that’s sorry”‘, then hugs her and shoots her in the head. Forgiveness is neither in Camorra nor in tsarist Russia.

And revenge came in the most obvious way. This time the poison wasn’t used to hit another traitor, it would be a cowardly move. This time his plane was obviously blown up; just as Wagner shot down two Russian helicopters during his revolt, killing 15 soldiers.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But if it was revenge, then there were political and tactical reasons for waiting so long before punishing Prigozhin. First, during the revolt in the Federation, the myth that the Wagnerians were true heroes against the “traitors” and corrupt leaders of the regular army was still strong. The consensus around the company was still pretty high and it needed to erode gradually. In the last two months, Russia has been able to respond very effectively to Ukraine’s counter-attack, which has been progressing much more slowly than expected and which, according to the US, was unable to achieve its main objectives. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Army Commander-in-Chief Valery Gerasimov, whom Prigozhin targeted with insults and attacks, showed that they could do the job they were chosen for. Now was the time to attack Wagner’s leader.

Putin also dismissed general Sergei Surovikin, who had been tasked with leading the entire invasion of Ukraine for months. The soldier, to whom Putin held the highest military honor and nicknamed ‘General Apocalypse’ for the brutality of his methods in Syria, was suspected of supporting, or at least not opposed to, the rebellion. Wagner’s. Since then, no one knows what happened to him, but he is believed to be under house arrest; this is a much lighter punishment than the punishment given to your so-called friend.

Although Prigozhin is responsible for Bakhmut’s bloody siege, his death is ultimately bad news for Ukraine. The hope of Kiev and the West that, in the wake of the consequences of the sanctions and the war against the Federation, that an internal revolt could be launched by the oligarchs, and perhaps even by the political and military hierarchies, is doomed to remain so. Putin reversed the negative predictions and emerged stronger once again under the leadership of the nation, just like Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Now who will have the courage to challenge his power again in Russia?

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