Why Putin is so hard to overthrow

He challenged a system built for only one man.

In June, Russian militia leader and Putin confidant, Yvegeny Prigozhin, led an armed mutiny against the Russian military. It was the most serious threat to Putin’s rule since he rose to power more than 20 years ago. In this video, we explore how it shattered the belief that Putin was in total control and exposed cracks in his regime that had been growing for years.

Welcome to Search Party!
Search Party is a new, independent, video news show that combines experienced journalism and visual design to decode the most complex stories in international sports and geopolitics.

About:
Search Party is led and produced by Sam Ellis, a journalist, director, editor, and animator based in New York City. For more than 6 years, Ellis produced the hugely popular video series, Vox Atlas, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. He specializes in breaking down the most complex new stories and presenting them with a refreshing, accessible, and engaging visual style.

He’s produced explainers on some of the world’s thorniest geopolitical stories; from corruption scandals in Latin America, conflict in the Middle East, and the rise of China, to the world of sports; the Monaco Grand Prix, the FIFA corruption scandal, and the 100-foot waves of Nazaré, Portugal. Ellis has also directed multiple episodes of TV; notably on Netflix’s ‘Explained’ and HBO Sport’s ‘Level Playing Field’.

Got story ideas or tips? Reach out to the team at:

[Search-Party]

If you haven't heard, this story has had a bit of a development since we published. On Wednesday, August 23, the Russian military shot down Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane outside of Moscow. Prigozhin was listed as a passenger and is presumed dead. It's very likely part of Vladimir Putin's effort to reconsolidate power after Prigozhin's mutiny in June.

It's a dramatic end to Prigozhin's story, but just another example of how Putin's system works. And how he deals with those that challenge it. Thanks for watching.

- Sam

[timogord]

Tetris style motion graphics was a genius idea, it's explained really well and easy to understand. It makes me enjoy more Geopolitics documentary

[noahwright]

Watching this 8 hours after news came out about Prigozhin's jet "crashing" is extremely eerie and goes to prove all points in this video. Very interesting...

[aljoker_sa]

Summary: he's just smarter than his enemies

[imanuelc]

Damn, Putin is really good at playing Tetris politics edition

[peterkabubu]

This episode couldn't have been more timely.

[asimsheikh]

I think Putin took this video personally

[godhallelujahgaming]

My dad used to always say to me "if the entirety of the information you believe about someone comes from that person's obvious enemies, you're what is known as an idiot"

[sarasamankova]

I really appreciate the work and thought somebody had to put into this, especially the Tetris layout, which has made this easier to understand, but also very pleasant to watch! Definitely keeping an eye out for future videos!

[clausjungling]

as a russian man who's deep into russian politics and been watching this story very closely, i can say that you did a very good job covering it

[jeikobladder]

Excellent work !!! I have seen so many infographics, so many analysis and documentaries but this is the best one. Correct facts, great visualization and effective time - thank you !!! Please continue...

[MsThePrettiest]

okay, Russian native speaker here, let me enlight you. Prigozin never ever said a single bad word about Putin, he had a conflict with Shoigu - minster of defence, please get your facts right, watch all his speches again and study the track record of his conflicts with Russia's elites.

[stormsniper]

It's crazy this is a new channel. The videos are so high quality and great to watch. Keep up the good work.

[Squeezy]

There is also an underlying issue between Prigozhin and Shoigu that wasn't mentioned in the video and which I believe was the driving factor in the disputes between the two mentioned. Shoigu has his own PMC and during the entire battle of Bakhmut and even later on Wagner was receiving less and less ammo and supplies from the goverment. This in part drove the Prigozhin to publicly criticize Shoigu and Gerasimov which was then used as an excuse to give Yevgeny's Concord Catering worse and worse goverment contracts, threatening to drop them completely. In the end the whole thing boiled down to money. If not for the conflict of interests the Wagner coup would probably never have happened.

[jerromedrakejr]

"Why Putin is so hard to overthrow?"
Why would you do such a thing?

[saif]

The design of this video is just absolutely exceptional.

[winniewillem]

This is so interesting and the tetris style graphics were a great visual to explain whats going on! Keep it up :)

[alexnogues]

How come nobody ever talks about European or US oligarchs, when they're the same thing?

[Ronny]

Incredible way to use visuals! Great video, thanks a lot for this!

[sergheiciliuta]

Hi guys. I'm thrilled with the work you are doing. I've been following Johnny Harris since he was at Vox with Borders.
What you are doing here is more than journalism, it's Art.
I've seen in the promotional video on this channel you guys saying we could suggest some video topics.
If you find it interesting and in the context of what is going on in Eastern Europe right now, there was a bank fraud in Moldova. Around 1 billion dollars (10% of its National GDP) were stolen from the banking system of the poorest country in Europe (Moldova). This happened in 2014, and since then, after 9 years, an ex prime minister was convicted, not really related to this, but kinda connected to it. All the supposed felons fled the country, and till now no one is really held responsible.
The justice system in the country is corrupt to its core and perpetuated over time. Depopulation is at its peak.
Maybe you guys could bring more light into this.
Many thanks and keep up with the great job.