Wagner troops were 'scum of the street,' pose no threat
(NewsNation) — Former national security adviser John Bolton says Russian President Vladimir Putin faces no real threat after the Wagner Group marched defiantly toward Moscow over the weekend.
“I think there’s been a little overreaction to the events. There’s no doubt Putin has taken a big hit here, because of what happened over the weekend. But the idea that he was seriously threatened by Wagner group, or that his tenure in power in Moscow can be numbered in weeks or months, I think is a big mistake,” Bolton said.
John Bolton served as the national security adviser under former President Donald Trump.
He joined “NewsNation Prime” to discuss the recent Russian revolt, saying the Wagner group doesn’t pose a real threat to Putin’s power.
“Just a few months ago, the Wagner group troops in Ukraine were described as cannon fodder, the scum of the streets of Moscow, released inmates from prison, sent out in human wave attacks against the Ukrainians,” Bolton said. “Over the weekend, suddenly, they became battle-tested combat-trained troops that were a direct threat to Putin. If Prigozhin were doing so well, why did he stop?”
The brief revolt, though, exposed vulnerabilities among Russian government forces, with Wagner Group soldiers under the command of Yevgeny Prigozhin able to move unimpeded into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and advance hundreds of kilometers (miles) toward Moscow. The Russian military scrambled to defend Russia’s capital.
Source: NewsNation Now
