Seymour Hersh On Prigozhin's Folly: The Russian 'Revolt' That Wasn't Strengthens Putin's Hand
_Authored by Seymour Hersh via Substack,_ (https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/prigozhins-folly)
The Biden administration had a glorious few days last weekend. **The ongoing disaster in Ukraine slipped from the headlines to be replaced by the “revolt,”** as a _New York Times_ headline put it, of Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the mercenary Wagner Group.
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)**The focus slipped from Ukraine’s failing counter-offensive to Prigozhin’s threat to Putin’s control.** As one headline in the _Times_ put it, “Revolt Raises Searing Question: Could Putin Lose Power? (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/25/world/europe/russia-war-putin-wagner-prigozhin.html)” _Washington Post_ columnist David Ignatius posed this assessment: “Putin looked into the abyss Saturday—and blinked (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/24/putin-prigozhin-russia-wagner-group-coup/).”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken—the administration’s go-to wartime flack, who weeks ago (https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/blinkens-battle-hymn) spoke proudly of his commitment not to seek a ceasefire in Ukraine—appeared on CBS’s _Face the Nation (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/antony-blinken-secretary-of-state-face-the-nation-transcript-06-25-2023/)_ with his own version of reality: “Sixteen months ago, Russian forces were . . . thinking they would erase Ukraine from the map as an independent country,” Blinken said. “Now, over the weekend they’ve had to defend Moscow, Russia’s capital, against mercenaries of Putin’s own making. . . . It was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. . . . It shows real cracks.”
Blinken, unchallenged by his interviewer, Margaret Brennan, as he knew he would not be—why else would he appear on the show?—went on to suggest that the defection of the crazed Wagner leader would be a boon for Ukraine’s forces, whose slaughter by Russian troops was ongoing as he spoke. “To the extent that it presents a real distraction for Putin, and for Russian authorities, that they have to look at—sort of mind their rear as they’re trying to deal with the counter offensive in Ukraine, I think that creates even greater openings for the Ukrainians to do well on the ground.”
At this point was Blinken speaking for Joe Biden? Are we to understand that this is what the man in charge believes?
**We now know that the chronically unstable Prigozhin’s revolt fizzled out within a day, as he fled to Belarus, with a no-prosecution guarantee, and his mercenary army was mingled into the Russian army. There was no march on Moscow, nor was there a significant threat to Putin’s rule.**
Pity the Washington columnists and national security correspondents who seem to rely heavily on official backgrounders with White House and State Department officials.
Given the published results of such briefings, those **officials seem unable to look at the reality of the past few weeks,** or the total disaster that has befallen the Ukraine military’s counter-offensive.
So, **below is a look at what is really going** that was provided to me by a knowledgeable source in the American intelligence community:
> _“I thought I might clear some of the smoke. **First and most importantly, Putin is now in a much stronger position.** We realized as early as January of 2023 that a showdown between the generals, backed by Putin, and Prigo, backed by ultra-nationalist extremists, was inevitable. The age-old conflict between the ‘special’ war fighters and a large, slow, clumsy, unimaginative regular army. The army always wins because they own the peripheral assets that make victory, either offensive or defensive, possible. Most importantly, they control logistics. special forces see themselves as the premier offensive asset. **When the overall strategy is offensive, big army tolerates their hubris and public chest thumping because SF are willing to take high risk and pay a high price.** Successful offense requires a large expenditure of men and equipment. Successful defense, on the other hand, requires husbanding these assets._
>
> _“ **Wagner members were the spearhead of the original Russian Ukraine offensive.** They were the ‘little green men’. When the offensive grew into an all-out attack by the regular army, Wagner continued to assist but reluctantly had to take a back seat in the period of instability and readjustment that followed. Prigo, no shy violet, took the initiative to grow his forces and stabilize his sector._
>
> _“ **The regular army welcomed the help.** Prigo and Wagner, as is the wont…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/seymour-hersh-prigozhins-folly-russian-revolt-wasnt-strengthens-putins-hand