Prigozhin’s Out. Now What?

On the evening of August 23rd, news broke of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death after Russian aviation officials listed him as a member on a flight that suspiciously crashed north of Moscow. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia convene to discuss what Prigozhin’s death could mean for the Wagner group’s legitimacy, the stability of Putin’s regime, and the fate of the Russia-Ukraine War. Are the Russians able to achieve anything in Ukraine without Wagner? Does Prigozhin’s death signal the end of political infighting within the Kremlin? The co-hosts also continue to discuss the problems with the Biden administration’s stance on Ukraine, particularly its failure to link Ukraine’s victory to US national interests and how that could affect support for Ukraine in the upcoming presidential elections.

Show notes: Sign up for The Eastern Front’s bi-weekly newsletter here and follow us on Twitter here. “Ukraine’s Forces and Firepower Are Misallocated, US Officials Say,” New York Times.