When the Next Coup Comes, Russia’s Generals Will Just Watch
By executing Prigozhin and demanding total sycophancy, Putin traded a short-term coup risk for guaranteed, total paralysis during the regime's next existential shock.
On June 24, 2023, a state-funded military force seized the command center, in Rostov, Russia, that directs the war against Ukraine, shot down Russian aircraft, killed over a dozen servicemen, and drove within 125 miles of Moscow. Prigozhin stopped his column by evening not because Russian forces defeated him, but because he accepted a deal.[1]
Calling Wa…