It’s because he was never one of them, the KGB; he was naive and thought he could send a message and show mercy by stopping his advance in exchange for concessions. He should’ve known that above all else, above money or image or power, trust or diplomacy, the one thing that the leader of the siloviki can’t do is to appear weak when challenged directly.

You can't stop living your life. He probably didn't feel safe.

>I still don't understand how Prigozhin felt safe after surrendering, so much that he flew his jet near Moscow.

It all feels so farcical to the extent that it feels like it was either staged somehow, or they took enough of his family hostage to leave him no other choice.

Because you can't be that stupid and live to be that high and that old in Putin's regime.