Putin's Charm Offensive on Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin is conducting a large-scale damage control PR operation as part of a charm offensive in the aftermath of a short-lived uprising led by Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin's short-lived mutiny on June 24 saw his Wagner Group fighters advance from southern Russia to Moscow as part of a "march of justice" against the country's military leadership. That followed a monthslong public feud with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov over how they have handled the war in Ukraine.

In a video address to the nation, the Russian president described Prigozhin's mutiny attempt as "treason," and threatened anyone who had taken up arms against the Russian military would be punished, but he has failed to deliver on that threat. The Kremlin said it was Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, not Putin, who brokered a deal with Prigozhin to drop criminal charges against him in exchange for his exile to Belarus.

At the same time, Putin ramped up his public appearances this week, and he publicly admitted what he has denied for years—that the Kremlin fully funds and supplies the "private military company" (PMC) run by the tycoon who had been a longtime ally.

Footage of Putin being enthusiastically greeted by crowds in the Republic of Dagestan widely circulated online, and at a separate event, the Russian leader was filmed sketching a face on a whiteboard at an exhibition. On the same day, Putin addressed the forum of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) in Moscow where he said that opportunities for Russian entrepreneurs have expanded.

Vlad Mykhnenko, an expert at the University of Oxford in the post-communist transformation of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, told Newsweek that Putin's PR team convinced him to increase his contact with the public after Prigozhin's uprising.

"In the last four days, Putin gave two speeches in Moscow: one in front of Spetsnaz troops and Russian National Guardsmen and then a meeting with the military personnel inside the Kremlin, when he admitted the government has been bankrolling Wagner "'PMC' all along; then a trip to Dagestan and a speech at some Russian congress of innovative solutions, plus a televised meeting with Dagestani officials and its richest man," said Mykhnenko.

"So, Putin's PR team has finally managed to convey the message he's perceived as weak, as a 'bunker grandpa,' remote, hiding, paranoid about germs, and they've persuaded him to 'show himself to the people,'" he said.

Mykhnenko noted that in every one of these meetings, the audiences were prompted to show unity, to say how they've supported Putin all along and how dangerous the mutineers were.

"We're witnessing a massive damage control PR operation," said Mykhnenko, adding that the Kremlin's social representation of Putin has shifted from "hide and keep out of sight" to "omnipresence."

Boris Bondarev, who became Russia's first and only diplomat to publicly quit over Putin's war in Ukraine in May 2022, told Newsweek he believes Prigozhin's mutiny attempt on June 24 will ultimately lead to Putin's downfall.

It diminished Putin's credibility and showed that his "regime can be toppled very easily," said Bondarev.

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