As America kicks off its 2024 presidential marketing campaign, Russia will quickly observe go well with with a vote for its prime chief scheduled for March of subsequent 12 months.
Russian President Vladmir Putin might not but have introduced he’s looking for one other time period, however an inside Kremlin electoral group is engaged on the belief that Vlad might be operating, in line with the Russian enterprise day by day Kommersant, which cited sources near Putin’s administration.
However Russian presidential elections are usually not precisely like these within the US.
Usually, there’s no thriller round who wins — Putin — and who loses, everybody else.
This would be the case once more in 2024 — until, after all, Putin chooses in any other case.
For the Russian president, the election isn’t a lot a contest as it’s a instrument — with Putin the one participant who actually issues.
He has three clear choices for 2024.
The primary is to run for re-election and retain the presidency.
The second, to take a seat out the race and pave the way in which for a proper successor.
The third — anoint some distant runner-up as prime minister who will someday succeed him on the presidency.
Putin is, with the assistance of consultants, growing an “ideological platform” for his marketing campaign, in line with Kommersant, and has till December to make a remaining resolution.
However confronted with the dismal progress of the conflict in Ukraine, he may very properly determine that it’s time for an exit — and look to another person to complete the beleaguered battle he began.
Who is that this character Putin would possibly permit to take over the reins — a lot the identical method that Boris Yeltsin relinquished the presidency to Putin in 1999 in an effort to keep away from corruption prices?
His title is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the commander of the Wagner mercenary squad, identified for its battlefield brutality and seize of Bakhmut in Ukraine final month.
Additionally known as “Putin’s chef,” Prigozhin – who obtained his begin within the catering enterprise — as soon as served meals to the Kremlin. It’s a modest starting with main which means: Famously frightened of being poisoned at mealtime, Putin clearly trusts Prigozhin fully.
A former hotdog salesman and convicted prison, Prigozhin has made headlines worldwide due to his bombastic fashion and profanity-laced movies blasting Russian army leaders. In early Might, the Wagner Group warlord was filmed cursing out Sergei Shoigu, the Russian protection minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the final employees, as he walked among the many our bodies of his lifeless fighters in Bakhmut.
Prigozhin known as these prime generals “scumbags” who refused him weapons, ranting that “those that don’t give us ammunition will burn in hell consuming their guts.”
Prigozhin has advocated for a a lot harder stance in Ukraine, calling final week for a full civilian mobilization if the present “particular operation” drags on.
Equally notable, Prigozhin makes no secret of his entry to Putin. In a latest interview to media group “Patriot,” he claimed he informs the “larger management” — aka Putin — about “all present issues” with little within the type of “push again” from the “Supreme Commander.”
Prigozhin has clearly hinted that he’s eyeing the presidency.
In a March 14 interview with main Russian media shops managed by Putin, Prigozhin blasted the Russian army institution, contrasting himself and his fighters with the “ineffective” bureaucrats within the Russian protection construction who “shuffle papers” and “intervene with conflict.”
Prigozhin steered that he’s suited to the function of a wartime commander way more than “uniformed bureaucrats”.
The interview seemed and sounded loads like a marketing campaign speech. It additionally seemed and sounded eerily just like Putin himself.
Just like the president, Prigozhin introduced himself because the defender of the frequent folks who’re being cheated by the forms.
“How is the lifetime of a military common value greater than the lifetime of a fighter? What’s the distinction,” he said.
The setting additionally mimicked Putin’s fashion.
Very similar to his boss, Prigozhin sat at a mahogany desk, straight dealing with pro-Kremlin journalists. Rather than his typical uniform of fight boots and camouflage, Prigozhin was wearing a white collared shirt and navy blue full-zip sweater — a glance eerily paying homage to Putin’s luxe-despot get-up throughout his now notorious conflict “rally” simply weeks after invading Ukraine.
Lest his ambitions be misinterpreted, Prigozhin positioned himself in opposition to a background of a world map.
Prigozhin is sort of definitely orchestrating these maneuvers with the consent — if not endorsement — of Putin. In February, as an illustration, Russia’s state information company, Interfax, carried a chunk titled “Yevgeny Prigozhin, for the primary time, joined the checklist of prime ten media personalities.”
Putin, after all, remained at number one. However Prigozhin’s inclusion was all of the extra notable contemplating that Russian Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu — the prime goal of Prigozhin’s anti-establishment rants – dropped off the highest 10 checklist.
Putin’s relationship with Prigozhin spans at the very least 20 years.
The 2 are eerily related: Each raised in working-class St. Petersburg neighborhoods and each admirers of barbaric Russian dictators like Stalin.
Each are extremely danger tolerant, brutal and control-freaks who fashion themselves as problem-solvers and efficient communicators.
Prigozhin is definitely a good rougher and extra sinister model of Putin, maybe that’s why Vlad let Zhenya serve him dinner.
And that’s why Putin would permit Prigozhin to develop into king: as a result of not solely would Prigozhin press for a victory in Ukraine, he would guarantee a snug retirement for Putin as an alternative of a visit to the gulag.
Rebekah Koffler is the president of Doctrine & Technique Consulting, a former DIA intelligence officer, and the creator of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America.” Twitter: @Rebekah0132
