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In personnel arrangements, leaders often face a complex choice: do they choose loyal subordinates or competent talents? This question has always been inconclusive. But there is no doubt that for the monarch, loyalty is paramount. Because who wants the courtiers around them to be a group of ambitious Sima Yi, An Lushan or Zhu Di? The phrase "once unfaithful, not for life" applies not only to marriage, but also to the way of employing people. The Qianlong Emperor insisted on using one extremely loyal but greedy courtier, and showed no mercy to another rebellious minister who was even talented. Now, let's take a look at Prigozhin, whose fate was completely reversed on the day of the coup.
Prigozhin, a name that may not be well known to the world, but he was a hero of Russia and a nightmare for Ukrainians. His life began in 1961, when he was born in St. Petersburg, a full 9 years younger than Putin. In his early years, Prigozhin was just a street gangster, or rather a street goer. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin left the KGB and returned to St. Petersburg to work as a taxi driver. But fate left an incredible mark on him. Soon after, he was promoted by a teacher and entered Russian politics. At the same time, he opened a restaurant in St. Petersburg.
Putin was then the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, in charge of catering and hotel business, and frequented Prigozhin's restaurants. The two became acquainted, and Prigozhin gradually gained Putin's trust. As Putin rose through the ranks, Prigozhin also enjoyed great benefits, becoming Putin's head of the imperial chef and contracting the Kremlin's catering business, which brought huge profits. The history of Russia and the former Soviet Union is full of episodes of military interference, and Putin plans to form a private mercenary, the Wagner mercenaries, in order to balance the army. However, due to the sensitivity of his identity, Putin was inconvenient to make a public appearance, so he entrusted this task to Prigozhin.
In the initial stage of the Wagner mercenaries, Putin provided funds, equipment and personnel support, which made the Wagner mercenaries quickly emerge. Internally, the Wagner mercenaries almost regarded Prigozhin as their leader, and Prigozhin became the de facto commander of this mercenary force. Over time, however, Prigozhin gained more power, and Putin's state affairs became busy, causing his ties to the mercenary army to fade. The Wagner mercenaries became Prigozhin's personal army, following his orders.
However, in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, tensions arose between Wagner mercenaries and the Russian Defense Forces. Prigozhin was dissatisfied with this, believing that his credit was often taken away by the Ministry of Defense and that they often did not provide timely military support. This made Prigozhin increasingly dissatisfied, and he began to criticize the military top brass such as Shoigu and Gerasimov in the media. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's attempt to weaken Prigozhin's power provoked verbal clashes between the two sides. In the end, the Russian Wehrmacht acted badly and shelled the barracks of the Wagner mercenaries in an attempt to eliminate Prigozhin.
Prigozhin was in the barracks at the time of this incident, and one of the goals of the Russian army was to clear him. Fortunately, however, Prigozhin survived, and his anger was fueled. He led the Wagner mercenaries and staged a coup d'état, claiming to eliminate Shoigu and Gerasimov, two "traitors". Wagner mercenaries entered southern Russia, occupying key locations such as government buildings and television stations. Prigozhin left thousands of mercenaries to guard the south, while ordering more than ten thousand mercenaries to go to Moscow.
The move caused panic in Putin, who ordered the cutting of roads and bridges to Moscow while mobilizing troops from other regions to come to support. But Putin's anxiety didn't stop there, sending engineering troops to destroy roads and bridges leading to downtown Moscow to ensure that coup d'état could not enter the city. In addition, Belarusian President Lukashenko also came forward and, with the help of contacts with Prigozhin, successfully persuaded the Wagner mercenaries to withdraw.
Two months later, Prigozhin was flying in an accident that killed him and seven other top leaders, and the crash site was only about 300 kilometers from Moscow. Bullet holes were found in the wreckage, suspected by anti-aircraft missiles and thought to have exploded by a time bomb. Radio Wagner Mercenaries claimed that Prigozhin and others were killed because of the betrayal of traitors. In any case, there is still a mystery behind this incident.
As for Putin, he issued a statement after Prigozhin's death, acknowledging that Prigozhin was once an outstanding talent, but also pointed out that he made serious mistakes. After that, the Russian Ministry of Defense acted in an attempt to regain control of the Wagner mercenaries, and all those involved were asked to swear allegiance.
Finally, Prigozhin's funeral was held in St. Petersburg with only relatives and close associates, while Putin did not attend and no further arrangements were made by the Kremlin. This is where Prigozhin's fate ends, as he was a giant in Russian politics, but he never ended well.
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