Background slide

Yevgeny Prigozhin [pronounced pree-goh-shin] was a former leader of the Wagner Group, a private mercenary force based in Russia. Prigozhin had a huge social media presence through telegram channels in Russia and had close ties with many top brass in the Kremlin. In June, Prigozhin began criticizing Putin's leadership through telegrams: some of his allegations included not providing Wagner soldiers with sufficient munitions while fighting in the Russia-Ukraine War, launching airstrikes on Wagner soldiers, and forcing Wagner soldiers to formally sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense. On June 23, Prigozhin launched an armed mutiny against Russia's military leadership, seizing the city of Rostov-on-Don. [add spacing here when pasted into discord] For the purposes of this debate, you are Vladimir Putin. It is June 24th and you are in negotiations with Prigozhin to end the Mutiny. The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has offered to allow Prigozhin to flee to Belarus in exchange for your prosecutors dropping all of their charges against Prigozhin and his soldiers. You cannot take any punitive action against Prigozhin later down the line (ie, you cannot prosecute, imprison, or kill him later on either side of the debate).