Former Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland told Newsmax Monday that while "nobody really knows" what happened when Wagner mercenary troops marched on Moscow over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin looks weakened by the brief rebellion.
There is also the possibility the short-lived revolt could be a "feint."
"Was there a deal that allowed [Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny] Prigozhin to go free, to be banished to Belarus, and then everybody will forgive everything that happened?" McFarland said during an appearance on Newsmax's "National Report." "That doesn't sound like Vladimir Putin to me."
"On the other hand, did Prigozhin really think he was going to have a military coup against the Kremlin with a couple thousand troops, as well as they were received along the road?" she continued. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, so there's a whole range of possibilities of what has happened and what might happen in the future. Maybe it's a feint, where this is an opportunity for Prigozhin to go to Belarus and open a second front against the war in Ukraine, and maybe the war in Ukraine ramps up.
"Maybe Vladimir Putin can turn this to his advantage, but it looks obvious that he's been weakened by this."
Wagner Group fighters captured the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday and reportedly came within 120 miles of Moscow before turning back and heading to their field camps.
Russia's capital city had deployed troops in preparation for the mercenaries' arrival and told residents to avoid going out.
McFarland said that Russian history teaches that "no Russian or Communist Russian leader has ever survived if he's been weak at home and weak abroad."
"Even Lenin said, 'When you have a problem at home, divert everybody's attention with a crisis abroad,' " she said. "So I do think you're going to start seeing something abroad, probably in Ukraine, where Putin has to re-establish his firm grip on power. So, I don't think this is necessarily good news for anybody."
The former Trump official also cautioned against cheering on mutiny within Putin's ranks, noting that a successor to the Russian leader might not be an improvement.
"Vladimir Putin is the devil you know, and he's a devil," McFarland said. "But do not think that what comes after him is some really Kumbaya peace character because, again, throughout Russian history, the Russian leaders that appear to be weak have been replaced by strongmen. That's how Putin himself came to power."
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