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Thanks for sharing your take on this!

I've seen others comment that Putin wouldn't do this so near Moscow, or wouldn't do this during the BRICs summit, and similar opinons with regard to appearances. My take is that this was a serious military threat to the government and that exactly where and when the Wagner leadership was taken out was a secondary consideration to getting it done right in terms of execution. And this seems to have been executed perfectly in that the Wagner leadership, not just Prigozhin, was eliminated all at once. There were no survivors or missteps in indentifying the targets, and that is not easy to do. Better to do it near Moscow where Putin/GRU/FSB has more control over events than to try to do this in Africa or Belarus or somewhere else and have it not go so smoothly. Competence is much more important in terms of the government's reputation than whether or not the location or timing is perfect.

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I agree that Prigozhin had become a major problem once again. This operation had to be carefully planned: it was not spur of the moment. If it was a bomb it would have to be linked to an altimeter, since if there was a timer it would have exploded at the airport (as the flight was delayed). That requires preparation and planning. Similarly, if it was a missile, similar planning and coordination would be needed. My main point is I don't think it was Putin. The reason for that is the promise he made. I am sure he was approached for permission, but likely rejected it. Sort of like Queen Elizabeth 1 when asked to approve the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, her rival. Not that Putin is above killing his enemies.. Recall that it was almost certain the GRU poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal with Novichuk nerve agent in the UK. Did they have Putin's permission or need it?

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