crackdown on those affiliated with the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the recovery of debris from the Titan submersible.
Vladimir Putin has fed speculation about a broader crackdown.Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, via Reuters
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has indicated that he will punish people who enabled the Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion over the weekend. But the Wagner leader’s deep ties to the ruling elite are complicating those efforts.
Putin fed speculation about a broader crackdown on Tuesday in a closed-door meeting with Russian media figures at the Kremlin, where he said he was delving into Prigozhin’s lucrative business contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry. Pro-war Russian blogs reported that the authorities were investigating military service members with ties to Prigozhin, but those reports could not be independently confirmed.
U.S. officials are still trying to learn whether a top Russian general, Sergei Surovikin, who holds significant support in its military, helped plan the mutiny led by Prigozhin. He has not been seen in public since early Saturday.
Background: After a career spent in the shadows, Prigozhin turned himself into a public figure in the last year, casting himself as a tough-talking mercenary leader who was far more effective than the traditional military. He regularly castigated and belittled military leaders like Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister.
Wagner’s new home? Satellite imagery shows that Belarus is rapidly building what appear to be temporary structures at a deserted military base, revealing a possible location for the group’s fighters.
News from the war:
The death toll from the strike on a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, has climbed to 11.
The Pentagon said it would send an additional $500 million in weapons, including 55 more armored vehicles and equipment for clearing minefields.
A Times analysis shows how Ukraine’s terrain is impeding the country’s counteroffensive.