Political Observer: Putin's Fear And Paranoia Will Grow
2- 28.06.2023, 11:22
- 5,604
The Russians watched with interest the free reality show called “Raid on Moscow”.
Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny against the Russian government dealt a serious blow to Putin personally. How did the Kremlin elites react to the humiliation of the Russian dictator? The Charter97.org website asked Volodymyr Fesenko, a well-known Ukrainian political scientist and head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research, about this:
— They got scared. Something similar happened, by the way, at the beginning of the war. After February 24, no one knew what would happen next. There was nothing like this under Putin, there were Chechen wars before he became president. Actually, the Second Chechen War became a springboard for Putin's presidency.
However, there has never been a threat to Moscow when its own military tried to influence the actions of the authorities, say, threatened the capital. Therefore, of course, they were frightened, some fell silent, some supported Putin, apparently, there was an order, especially for governors, but a significant part of the officials kept silent, even part of the propagandists kept silent.
For example, many noticed that Margarita Simonyan had fled Moscow “for the weekend”. And all Saturday she was silent, Putin's entire propaganda machine suffocated.
When his video message appeared, they began to say that it was necessary to support the president, to rally around him. They began to launch information about the Akhmat battalion, which is going to Rostov. But a lot of people were really scared, so the flight of businessmen and officials is a very significant trend.
According to some reports, Putin also flew to Valdai, Shoigu and Gerasimov also went underground, nothing was known about their whereabouts, they did not make any public statements. This is also very symptomatic.
Contrary to what Putin himself said that allegedly “everyone rallied to defend Russia” there, most of them either fled or got scared and did not oppose Prigozhin in any way.
Another thing that is interesting is the reaction of ordinary people. This is also worth paying attention to, because ordinary Russians did not rush in defense of Putin. Many of those who remember the beginning of the 1990s remember when the putsch of the State Emergency Committee took place in Moscow, then Muscovites blocked the roads, there were three dead. And why did they die? Because they blocked the roads for tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, three people died, because one of the young tankers put too much effort into it, freaked out and eventually crushed people.
People lay down on the asphalt, did not let them in. There was nothing like this on Saturday, June 24. On the contrary, some people expressed sympathy for the “Prigozhin’s men”, but did not follow them. Most Russians watched the spectacle with curiosity: who would win?
It somehow reminded me of 1993, when there was a conflict between Yeltsin and the parliament, many Muscovites came and watched tanks firing at the White House with direct fire. Now everyone was watching with interest such a free reality show “raid on Moscow.”
They observed, approached, communicated, and showed interest. It's also a trend. As it turned out, in Putin's Russia, where the majority trusts Putin, the majority did not stand up in defense of Moscow. On the contrary, I think that many would even like the same Muscovites to be punished. This is also an unpleasant trend for Putin. I think that the fear and paranoia of the head of the Kremlin will only increase as a result of this failed coup.
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