After Russia's most serious political crisis in decades, uncertainty swirled Monday about the fate of the former Putin ally who led a brief armed rebellion, his Wagner mercenary group, and the two military chiefs with whom he has clashed over the conduct of the war in Ukraine.
Also unclear were the impact on the 16-month-old invasion -- and the future of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faced the most serious challenge to his authority in more than 20 years of rule.
It was unclear what would ultimately happen to Prigozhin and his forces under the deal with the Kremlin brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Prigozhin's rift with the top military brass dates back years further, to the Russian military intervention in Syria, where Wagner Group was also active.
Some analysts saw Prigozhin's revolt as a desperate move to save Wagner from being dismantled after an order that all private military companies sign contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry by July 1. The U.S. had intelligence that Prigozhin had been building up his forces near the border with Russia for some time, suggesting the revolt was planned in advance. That conflicts with Prigozhin's claim that his rebellion was a response to an attack on his field camps in Ukraine on Friday by the Russian military, which he said killed a large number of his men. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the camps.
It was not yet clear what the fissures opened by the 24-hour rebellion would mean for the war in Ukraine, where Western officials say Russia's troops suffer low morale.
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