The Russian General Who Stands to Gain Most From Wagner’s Mutiny

For anyone wondering how Russia might change after this weekend’s aborted putsch, it would be worth keeping an eye on Viktor Zolotov, the longtime bodyguard of President Vladimir Putin, who emerged on Tuesday as one of the few apparent winners in the regime’s near-death experience.

A typically grey and sullen figure in the Kremlin retinue, Zolotov, who heads the Russian National Guard, stepped out of Putin’s shadow on Tuesday to claim credit for defending Moscow from the Wagner Group, the private army that marched across Russia this weekend. After meeting with Putin on Monday and Tuesday, Zolotov described how his branch of the armed forces, with over 300,000 personnel, stood to gain from the rebellion. His troops would soon receive an arsenal of advanced weaponry, he said, including tanks, to guard against similar threats to Putin’s rule.

It remains to be seen whether any of the Kremlin’s clans can gain from the Wagner Group’s rebellion. Its leader, Evgeny Prigozhin, has reportedly gone into exile, his mercenaries ordered to disband. His rivals in the Russian military have been humiliated by the fiasco, while Putin has struggled to save face and regain his grip on power. But Zolotov, the consummate loyalist, appears to be taking a victory lap and publicly angling for advantage.