In the most detailed public account ever given by a US official, the director of the CIA on Thursday issued a caustic assessment of the damage done to Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin by the Wagner mercenary group’s mutiny, saying the rebellion had reignited questions about his judgment and detachment from the events.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, an annual national security conference, William J. Burns, the CIA director, said that for much of the 36 hours of the uprising last month, Russia’s security services, military and decision-makers “appeared to be adrift.”
“For many Russians watching this, accustomed to this image of Putin as the arbiter of order, the question was, ‘Doesn’t the Emperor have any clothes?'” Burns said, adding, “Or at least, ‘Why is it taking him so long to get dressed?'”
The comments of Mr. Burns on the Kremlin’s paralysis during the uprising of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his group of mercenaries built on comments made a day earlier by his British counterpart, Richard Moore, the head of MI6, who said the uprising showed cracks in Mr. Putin.
Mr Burns said that while Mr Prigozhin was fabricating a number of steps in the uprising “as he went along”, his criticism of the Russian military leadership, which he made in a series of increasingly combative statements over months, was “hiding in plain sight”.
Mr Prigozhin has also been bitterly critical of the Kremlin’s argument for war against Ukraine. Mr Burns said the Telegram channel where Mr Prigozhin posted a video challenging Russia’s main argument for invading Ukraine was viewed by a third of Russia’s population.
“That video was the most damning indictment against Putin’s rationale for war, against waging the war, against the corruption at the core of Putin’s regime that I have heard from a Russian or a non-Russian,” said Mr. Burns.
Mr. Burns confirmed that the United States was aware of a possible insurgency. He predicted that Mr. Putin would try to separate Wagner forces from Mr. Prigozhin in order to preserve the mercenary group’s combat power, which has been important to Russia’s war effort.
Since the uprising and the deal that ended it, Mr Prigozhin has been in Minsk in Belarus, but he has also spent time in Russia, Mr Burns said.
He said he would be surprised if Mr Prigozhin finally “escaped further retaliation”.
“What we see is a very complicated dance between Prigozhin and Putin,” said Mr. Burns. “I think Putin is someone who generally thinks revenge is a dish best served cold, so he’s going to try to resolve the situation as best he can.”
Mr Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia who served in Moscow nearly two decades ago when the Russian president consolidated power, added that the Russian leader is “the ultimate apostle of vengeance”.
And, Mr. Burns suggested, it wouldn’t just be Mr. Prigozhin who is facing repercussions.
US officials have said privately that a senior Russian general, Sergei V. Surovikin, had prior knowledge of Mr Prigozhin’s plans and may have supported the uprising.
When asked if General Surovikin was free or detained, Mr. Burns: “I don’t think he enjoys much freedom at the moment.”
