大象传媒

An attempted armed mutiny in Russia will boost President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 popularity, according to his former spokesman.

Sergei Markov鈥檚 comments come after the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner fighters, fuelled by anger at the Kremlin鈥檚 leadership of the invasion of Ukraine, was a demonstration of "real cracks" in Mr Putin's authority.

Mr Markov told Newsday: 鈥淪upport of Vladimir Putin will not be less but bigger now because people (are) not afraid of Prigozhin, people (are) afraid of chaos and anarchy鈥�Vladimir Putin resolved this problem by peaceful means without no bloodshed鈥�I think after this event using technical nuclear weaponry became much more likely.鈥�

(Picture: Shows a local resident walking past members of Wagner group in Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023. Credit: Roman Romokhov / AFP via Getty Images.)