<!-- wp:html --><p>Russia’s embattled defence minister was in the hot seat long before Yevgeny Prigozhin sent his Wagner mercenaries racing to Moscow on a stated mission to oust him. The latter’s failure shows President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to sacrifice his long-time confidant – at least for now.</p><!-- /wp:html -->
Russia’s embattled defence minister was in the hot seat long before Yevgeny Prigozhin sent his Wagner mercenaries racing to Moscow on a stated mission to oust him. The latter’s failure shows President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to sacrifice his long-time confidant – at least for now.