fratricide

“It was precisely this outcome — fratricide — that Russia’s enemies wanted: both the neo-Nazis in Kyiv, and their Western patrons, and all sorts of national traitors,” Mr. Putin said.

Now, as Mr. Putin scrambles to put down a rebellion that he warned on Saturday could lead to “anarchy and fratricide,” Mr. Prigozhin looms as the Russian president’s own creation.

The fratricide is likely stoked by the press, which likes a “Dems-in-disarray” story and would love a presidential primary.

If Russia and Ukraine are brothers, as the Kremlin professes, then this is fratricide.

The breakaway Ukrainian Orthodox Church has vehemently denounced the Russian invasion as fratricide.