Putin looked like a 'rat in the corner' until he was bailed out with withdrawal: former ambassador
According to the former United States Ambassador to Russia, Vladimir Putin's response to the called-off Wagner Group revolt exposed him as being weak and severely damaged his tough-guy reputation.
Appearing on MSNBC with host Jonathan Capehart, ex-Ambassador Michael McFaul stated the Russian president ended up looking like a "rat in the corner" during the biggest crisis of his career.
Reflecting on the fact that Putin had previously threatened the Wagner Group's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin with arrest only to back off after a deal was brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, Capehart asked, "Do you think Vladimir Putin can let this go? Especially given as you pointed out what he said in that televised speech yesterday?"
"I honestly do not know," McFaul admitted. "I was very surprised that he capitulated so fast."
"By the way, I think that there's a lot about our theories about how he is going to fight in Ukraine, and whether he has an off-ramp and all these arguments about if he is a rat in the corner he'll never negotiate," he continued. "Well, yesterday he was a rat in the corner and he didn't double down, he didn't escalate, he negotiated, and, he looks very weak in terms of whether he is in charge of his own country."
"I suspect he is going to be looking for a way to reassert himself, vis-à-vis Mr. Prigozhin, and the Wagner fighters. I just do not exactly know how," he added.
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