Speculation that Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's revolt in Russia this weekend was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "false flag" operations is "nonsense," former National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz said on Newsmax Sunday.
"Let's stipulate this kind of thing wouldn't happen if the war wasn't going so badly, and this whole incident has seriously undermined confidence in Vladimir Putin and his leadership," Fleitz, the vice chairman of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security and a Newsmax contributor, commented on "Sunday Agenda."
Putin also "seemed to think" that Prigozhin's actions were a "coup attempt," given the defensive measures taken around Moscow on Saturday, said Fleitz.
However, the revolt had no chance of succeeding unless there were large sections of the Russian military joining up with Wagner's mercenaries, so the attempt could have been a gesture to have the head of Russia's Ministry of Defense removed, he added.
Meanwhile, the deal reached with Prigozhin includes his troops being incorporated into Russia's military to fight Ukraine, "doesn't make any sense," said Fleitz.
"These are well-armed, well-paid troops who are just not going to fit in with the poorly trained and poorly equipped Russian army, so there are a lot of questions about this agreement," he said.
Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, also appearing on Sunday's show, said that he thinks there is a "real possibility" that China and its President Xi Jinping weighed in and sent a message to the Wagner group to let it know that China will stand behind Putin and warned them to step back.
"I'm in Europe right now and you know, yesterday morning, it was a big, big deal," said Hoekstra, also a former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, adding that people are shocked that the uprising ended so quickly with an agreement to send Prigozhin to Belarus and his troops to fight with the Russians.
"I'm skeptical that it was Belarus brokering this deal," he said. "Maybe in a week, two weeks, we'll have a much better idea of exactly what's transpired over the short period."
Fleitz, meanwhile, questioned why the government would admit it had intelligence on Prigozhin's uprising for some time.
"This is what the administration does whenever it wants to brag about how smart it was, but we know there's been feuding between the violent group and the Russian government," said Fleitz. "For some time, the Wagner group has complained it doesn't have enough ammunition. The Russian government has complained they haven't been making progress in the war. There's been real feuding over what's been happening."
He added that the uprising ended because a decision was made to diffuse the situation, as Prigozhin and Putin are "lifelong friends."
"It could be that some type of arrangement was worked out that this was a gesture or a stunt by the volunteer group, not a real effort to overthrow Putin," said Fleitz.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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