Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin sees Yevgeny Prigozhin as a threat to his power, potentially giving the Wagner Group leader reason to oppose him.
Prigozhin withdrew his Wagner Group mercenaries from the front line in Ukraine in June and marched them towards Moscow, pledging to eliminate Russian military leaders. After negotiations, he went to Belarus instead.
“I think Putin was told by his senior military leaders – General Gerasimov and Defense Minister Shoigu – that Prigozhin was getting too big for his pants,” Pompeo said Sunday in an interview with the TV host. John Catsimatidis radio show on WABC 770 AM “Roundtable Cats.
“And I think they were starting to push him back and coerce him,” he added. “He didn’t like it.”
While many details about why Prighozhin turned on Moscow and what the future holds for him and Putin are still unknown, Pompeo posited that the Wagner leader’s betrayal will cause upheaval in the Russian oligarchy.
“Putin will see this as something that is a bridge too far,” Pompeo said.
“Kinda [Chinese President] Xi Jinping lashed out at business leaders who had gone too far and he felt threatened for his power, I’m sure Putin started to think that Prigozhin was threatening his,” he said. added.
Pompeo argued that he didn’t believe Putin would allow anyone else to become as powerful as Prigozhin, as the head of a global private army with close ties to the Russian military.
The former Trump administration official also said he doubted Prigozhin could return to his former place of influence as a close ally of Putin.
“I wouldn’t insure his life,” he said. “He is unlikely to find favor with Vladimir Putin. Whether this ends up in him drinking bad tea or simply being in permanent exile is hard to know.
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