“Dead Men Walking”: James Risen on How the Wagner Revolt Threatens Both Putin & Prigozhin

The Kremlin says it has dropped criminal charges against Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries after he attempted to lead an aborted mutiny against the Russian military. Prigozhin has reportedly arrived in Belarus. We speak with James Risen, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Intercept, who covered the 1991 attempted coup in Moscow and says Prigozhin may have had a chance to complete his march on Moscow and topple the government, but he lost his nerve. Risen says the rebellion exposed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule as hollow. “Prigozhin is clearly a threat, as long as he’s alive, to Putin,” warns Risen.