The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said the failed Wagner mutiny has weakened Vladimir Putin’s authority, as the Russian president sought to repair the damage to his standing by meeting military staff at the Kremlin and greeting crowds on a rare public walkabout.
Speaking in a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with the broadcaster ARD, Scholz said: “I do believe he is weakened as this shows that the autocratic power structures have cracks in them and he is not as firmly in the saddle as he always asserts.”
