UK’s Cleverly: Prigozhin’s revolt an ‘unprecedented challenge’ to Putin’s authority

British foreign minister James Cleverly said on Monday the short-lived insurrection led by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia represented an “unprecedented challenge” to President Vladimir Putin whose own “protégé” exposed his “lies” about the war in Ukraine.

Cleverly said in a statement to Parliament: “The long running feud, played out in public, between Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group and the leaders of the Russian armed forces reached a peak over the weekend.”

Cleverly said Prigozhin publicly decimated Putin’s company line on the invasion of Ukraine. “Everybody should note that one of Putin’s protégés had publicly destroyed his case for the war in Ukraine… The Russian government’s lies have been exposed by one of President Putin’s own henchmen.”

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He added: “Prigozhin’s rebellion is an unprecedented challenge to President Putin’s authority and it is clear that cracks are emerging in the Russian support for the war.”

While denouncing Prigozhin’s atrocities committed in Ukraine, Cleverly went on to say: “[Prigozhin] said out loud what we have believed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion: that this invasion was both unjustified and unprovoked.”

He added: “Now that Russia’s leadership cannot justify this war even to each other, the only rightful course is for Putin to withdraw his troops and end this bloodshed now.”

Cleverly then reiterated: “The events of this weekend are an unprecedented challenge to Putin’s authority – with an armoured column approaching his own capital city.”

Prigozhin started a brief rebellion over the weekend which swiftly ended by him calling off his Wagner forces’ march on Moscow after agreeing to a deal which would see him exiled in Belarus without any legal action taken against him in Russia. He said in his first remarks since the aborted revolt that the march was a “demonstration” not an attempted coup.

Prigozhin’s mutiny had a resounding impact within Russia and internationally as well. The general consensus amongst politicians and analysts is that the mutiny had weakened Putin and raised questions about his ruling with an iron fist at a critical time when his forces confront an intense counter-offensive in Ukraine.

Mark N. Katz, Russian foreign policy expert and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Al Arabiya English: “It is extraordinary that someone could do what Prigozhin has done and then be allowed to go off to Belarus without any more serious consequence.”

Katz anticipated that Russian troops fighting in Ukraine might see in Prigozhin’s getaway an example to follow. He said: “Prigozhin's actions have raised the possibility that other commanders and units can also withdraw from the conflict and perhaps go retire to Belarus as well. It's not good for Moscow's war effort at all.”