MOSCOW: CIA director William Burns has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to buy time while he works out how to deal with Wagner mercenary group’s chief Yevgeny Prighozin.
Prigozhin led a mutiny in Russia a month ago, which exposed considerable weaknesses in the power system Putin has built.
Burns said that Prigozhin has moved around but had been in Minsk, Belarus, recently and Russia.
That mercenary group Wagner still has value for Moscow’s leadership in places like Africa, Syria, and Libya and so it was expected that the Russian president would try and separate the group from its leader, according to BBC.
The CIA chief said that Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold. He is the ultimate apostle of payback so it would be surprising if Prigozhin escapes further retribution.
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden said there was a risk the Prigozhin could be poisoned.
Direct assault on president
The CIA chief said that the mutiny was the most direct assault Putin has wtnessed in his twenty-three years in power, including by directly challenging the Moscow’s justification for the war against Ukraine, with Prigozhin saying it had been built on lies.
He added that what was most starking was that Putin felt compelled to do a deal with a person who used to be his caterer.
Prigozhin is often referred to as “Putin’s chef” as he first came to limelight after providing catering services to president Putin and the military before establishing the Wagner group.
