Putin can't NOT punish either the wagner troops, or pirogy himself because there was a direct threat to putin's power. If he doesn't quash it THOROUGHLY, then there will be more revolts.
Putin also can't outright kill pirogy (which what I call the dude cause I can't pronounce his name properly.) because it'll cause another revolt in the wagner troops and putin NEEDS them to ensure his loss in ukraine is as slow as possible. If anything even looks like there's potential to be anything other than a natural death; putin will be responsible even if it was a complete and total accident.
This is also going to affect future voluntary recruitment from russian civilians because now there is no incentive to even try the regular military: there is no where better to go with skill and dedication. It's just corrupt military and "buy your ******* bullets" all the way up to the desk job now.
While it's not the outcome the world wanted (and was hoping for.)... this still isn't bad. It's going to compromise the ukraine war effort and russia morale. This is just another step towards putin being ousted.
Putin also can't outright kill pirogy (which what I call the dude cause I can't pronounce his name properly.) because it'll cause another revolt in the wagner troops and putin NEEDS them to ensure his loss in ukraine is as slow as possible. If anything even looks like there's potential to be anything other than a natural death; putin will be responsible even if it was a complete and total accident.
This is also going to affect future voluntary recruitment from russian civilians because now there is no incentive to even try the regular military: there is no where better to go with skill and dedication. It's just corrupt military and "buy your ******* bullets" all the way up to the desk job now.
While it's not the outcome the world wanted (and was hoping for.)... this still isn't bad. It's going to compromise the ukraine war effort and russia morale. This is just another step towards putin being ousted.