'Mortally Wounded' Vladimir Putin Could Launch Purges Like 'Never Seen Before' After Failed Moscow Coup, UK Officials Warn
June 27 2023, Published 11:30 a.m. ET
Vladimir Putin could soon launch purges like the world has “never seen before” following Yevgeny Prigozhin’s botched coup over the weekend, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a startling development to come after Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group marched on Moscow on Saturday before turning around at the 11th hour, United Kingdom officials warned that the Russian leader likely feels “mortally wounded” after the squashed rebellion.
Alicia Kearns, who serves as the chairman of the UK’s foreign affairs select committee, also warned that Putin may soon launch a series of purges as “we’ve never seen before” and that a full-scale “collapsed Russia” is still a very real possibility.
“The risk of a collapsed Russia is not insignificant,” Kearns warned on Monday, according to the New York Post. “We don’t know how far Putin will go to keep power, but let’s consider it to be significant.”
“If he’s successful, we will see purges, I think, like we have never seen before,” she said before adding that “what could come next [in Russia] could be a lot worse.”
“There are no good options here and I think we really should be worried.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Prigozhin ordered his 25,000-strong Wagner Private Military Company to march on Moscow on Saturday shortly after Putin issued a warrant for the mercenary chief’s arrest on charges of treason.
While Prigozhin’s men successfully seized two Russian cities before making their way toward Moscow, the Wagner leader ultimately called the rebellion off and agreed to go to Belarus after his arrest warrant was rescinded.
Still, sources familiar with the deal – including Kearns – warned that Prigozhin’s life is still in danger despite accepting amnesty in Belarus.
“No one believes that Prigozhin is going to Belarus and live out his life quietly there,” the UK official explained. “Putin is mortally wounded but I don’t think anyone can say Putin is finished.”
“There is nothing more that Putin hates than a traitor,” she added.
Meanwhile, other senior UK officials warned that Saturday’s botched coup marked the “first chapter of something new” and that the West “must prepare for a whole range of different scenarios.”
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“From the very beginning of the [Ukraine] invasion, one of the most obvious scenarios was that the war could lead to political unrest back home in Russia,” one official said. “We have to wait, watch and see what comes next.”
“This could be chapter one of something new.”
