Vindman: ‘Putin is weaker today’ after Wagner mercenary revolt

Former National Security Council advisor Alexander Vindman said the Wagner Group’s revolt in Russia last week weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin, and is a good sign for the Ukrainian war effort.

“Putin is weaker today than this time a week ago, Putin is less sure than he was a week ago, and that is by the wheel he put in motion himself,” Vindman said in an MSNBC interview on Tuesday.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against Putin late last week, declaring that he would have his forces march on Moscow to take down the leadership of the Russian military.

His forces took over a regional military headquarters in Russia’s south and headed toward Moscow before a deal was reached that led his forces to turn around. Under the deal, Prigozhin appeared to have been given safe haven in Belarus though there are serious questions about his future given the differences with Putin.

Putin on Monday blasted the mutiny, though he did not mention Prigozhin by name.

A number of observers have seen the episode as weakening Putin.

“I think what (Putin is) coming to a realization about, and you can see this in his multiple statements at odds with each other, is that time doesn’t seem to be on his hands. He put in motion forces that he can not control,” Vindman said.

“Now, (Wagner) is a threat to him. He doesn’t know next that this war is going to spill over into his own corner,” he added.

Vindman also argued that the actions reinforce the need for the U.S. to continue supplying Ukraine with military aid for its defense and to support Ukrainian offensives in the war.