https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-coup-was-staged-putin-west-fell-it-opinion-1810035
Staged? Likely. To win the election. No. Putin can just use the vote counting system favored by the American Deep State. It's called "I win, you lose".
Over the past several years, Putin has been using his Russian soldiers in ways that allow him to avoid responsibility for them. When he took over Crimea, his soldiers weren't wearing insignia linking them to Russia. The Wagner soldiers he could similarly disown. But it's dangerous having an army that you don't have complete control of. So Putin is incorporating them into the Russian Army.