“Putin made a deal with Prigozhin to save his own skin.” It is the thesis he supports Director of MI6, Richard Mooremarking the first confirmation by Western intelligence of the agreement between the Russian president and Wagner’s chief to end the June 24 rebellion.

In a speech in Prague, the head of British foreign intelligence first gave an analysis of Putin’s behavior that day: “I think Prigozhin began, as a traitor at breakfast, at dinner time, at dinner time he was pardoned and a few days later (June 29 the meeting was in the Kremlin, ed.). He was invited to tea. So, there are things that the head of MI6 finds it difficult to explain.

And, according to Moore, in fact the Russian president “didn’t go against Prigozhin: he made a deal to save his own skin, using the good offices of the leader of Belarus,” Alexander Lukashenko. But he concluded, “I can’t see what Putin had in mind: he must have realized, I’m sure, that there was something very rotten in Denmark—in Hamlet’s words—and he had to make this deal.”