Putin’s Sledgehammer

Gaslit Nation

Trump, Politics, Left, Democracy, Resistance, News, Society & Culture, Progressive, Liberal, Kendzior, Chalupa, Resist

4.8 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Gaslit Nation welcomes a leading expert on the future of warfare and U.S. national security Candace Rondeaux, author of the new book Putin’s Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia’s Collapse into Mercenary Chaos. Before there was Trump vs. Musk, there was Putin vs. Prigozhin. It turns out the oligarchs trying to kill us are just a couple of scorpions trapped in a jar.

Two years ago this June 23rd, Yevgeny Prigozhin led an armed mutiny of his infamous Wagner group, getting within 125 miles (200 km) of Moscow. In her book and this gripping conversation, Rondeaux unpacks what Wagner really is—and what it isn’t—debunking the myths surrounding Russia’s most infamous mercenary network. Wagner’s mutiny marked the first real crack in Putin’s power in decades. Prigozhin wasn’t an outsider—he was Putin’s creation. Funded. Protected. Enabled. And ultimately? Eliminated. On August 23rd, exactly two months later, his plane exploded above Russia, killing him and his inner circle.A special message from Gaslit Nation:

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Transcript

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0:56.9	Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required termsistic thriller, Mr. Jones, about Stalin's genocide. am your host, Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer of the
1:28.4	journalistic thriller, Mr. Jones, about Stalin's genocide famine in Ukraine. The film The Kremlin
1:34.1	doesn't want you to see, so be sure to watch it. Our guest this week is Candice Rondo, a veteran
1:39.0	war correspondent and Russian speaker who has reported from major global conflicts, including
1:44.0	Afghanistan,
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1:50.9	the New York Daily News and the Virginia Tech Massacre for the Washington Post. She directs
1:56.1	the future front lines and the planetary politics initiative at New America and teaches at Arizona State
2:02.1	University. Rondo holds degrees from Sarah Lawrence, NYU, and Princeton School of Public and
2:07.6	International Affairs and is a leading expert on the future of warfare, democracy, and global
2:13.5	security. With deep access to insider sources and years of reporting on the Kremlin's shadow
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