We speak with Nina Khrushcheva in Moscow after an extraordinary weekend that saw the most significant challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership since the beginning of his invasion of Ukraine 16 months ago. On Friday, the head of the powerful Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused the Russian military of attacking his forces and began a march on Moscow — but the revolt quickly fizzled out. By Saturday, Wagner troops had returned to base, and Prigozhin had agreed to exile in Belarus, while Putin denounced the episode as “treason.” Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School and the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, says that while Putin has reasserted his control over the state for now, the episode “didn’t really show him in the strong light.”
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