Russian Ukraine War

[mateinone]

Interesting times..

Is this a 'way out'?
Putin can claim to have been given bad information by defence folks and they bear the brunt of what happened.
A risky strategy for Putin, because it shows a weakness and naivety
(not a good thing for a Russian leader,
It also may not stop the fighting because the Ukranians, would keep coming, to take back all lost territory.

or

Is it a case of Prigozhin's group, having served their purpose, now need to be disbanded...and the Wagner
leader 'put away'.

There is definitely a case for this giving Putin a "way out", though leaving Ukraine would be unpopular, especially within his inner circle, but if he was to remove Gerasimov and Shoigu , then that takes some pressure off. If he was able to play this as a lie perpetuated on the Russian people by leaders who wanted to take control of Russia, it would give an avenue out, even though it would be transparently ridiculous to the rest of society, Russians are used to buying the lies from their television screens.

I think still more likely Prigozhin loses, but the fact Putin didn't criticize Prigozhin in name, nor the Wagner group seems to suggest he is waiting to see which way the wind blows