Putin wanted to redeem Russia’s history. He’s now haunted by it.

It is apt that Putin referenced the events of 1917 in his denunciation of Wagner’s actions,” wrote Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank. “It is important to reflect on the extent to which the deterioration of the Russian Army in 1917 saw numerous mutinies, negotiations and fragmentation within the Russian command. The collapse in 1917 started at the front and it took months to develop.”