An unstable Russia is 'very dangerous' says Defence Select Committee Chairman after Prigozhin's reported death
24 August 2023, 13:08 | Updated: 24 August 2023, 13:16
Following the reported death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in Russia, Tobias Ellwood told LBC News that Vladimir Putin has never been in a more desperate or dangerous space.
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The Chairman of the Defence Select Committee said: "My worry is the bigger picture - the Kremlin has moved into a very unpredictable space.
"Some will argue that Putin has emerged stronger perhaps, his primary threat the biggest challenger has now been removed, but I actually disagree with that."
"When you resort to eliminating dissenting voices on the scale at which Putin is now doing, it's a sign of desperation. It's a sign that he is trying to rule by fear alone, no longer respect", he added.
The Tory MP said that "trust in the inner Kremlin circle has collapsed and this will lead to increased uncertainty and indeed, instability."
"It's lifted the lid on how, to the Russian people, what we know already, that the war - Putin's war - has not gone well indeed", he continued.
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Following the events in Russia, the chairman noted that the Wagner Group "will be looking for revenge", but that things are "very difficult" from Putin's perspective "because he's got nobody to replace the Wagner Group to actually get in there and take the fight to the Ukrainians".
"This is being watched by the Russian people, and also some of those inside the Kremlin as well, recognising that this leader who commanded so much respect and was revered for the last 23 years is now looking very weak indeed", Mr Ellwood said.
He added that the drone attacks in and around Moscow, followed by the Luna-25 crash landing on the Moon are other signs that "clearly things are not going well" for the Russian President.
In reflection on Putin not attending the BRICS summit in South Africa in person, the Conservative MP noticed the change in attitude - where previously some nations were "a little bit reticent about joining in with the sanctions against Russia...now South Africa has said 'if Putin turns up on our soil, we will actually arrest him'".
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The Defence Select Committee Chairman continued: "It's absolutely concerning for everybody in the West and indeed across the world that we have an unstable Russia.
"This is a nuclear power, it's armed to the teeth, if there is nobody controlling the country then that's very very dangerous indeed."
He pulled lessons from Ivan the Terrible and Stalin, saying: "If you don't exhibit that strength, if you don't show infallibility, then your image starts to change, you then find it difficult indeed to survive, and that's what we're seeing at the moment."
"Putin was the saviour" after the "demoralising humiliation" of the collapse of the USSR, building the country back up, the Tory MP added.
"No longer anymore is he seen as the person to take the country forward, and I think these are questions in the Kremlin that will now be asked as to what Putin got the nation into in his poor decision to invade Ukraine."
