The Russian Ministry of Defense denies ammunition restrictions, but makes no mention of Wagner’s chief after the explosion.
Evgeny Prigozhin, owner of the mercenary firm Wagner, has accused Russia’s top military leader of high treason after claiming he withheld ammunition needed for fighting in Ukraine and refused to provide air support.
Prigogine’s Wagner Group Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
“There’s just the direct opposite going on. [to attempts to equip Wagner fighters]This can be viewed as high treason,” Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.
“The Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense not only do not give the Wagner PMC, they are giving orders left and right. [private military company] There is ammunition, but it is not useful for air transport. ”
Prigozhin is one of Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s most ardent critics, arguing that his men are far more effective than the regular army. Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov was appointed last month to lead the war in Ukraine.
His voice rose to a scream, Prigogine accused military officials of deciding that “people should die when it was convenient”, and Wagner’s fighters “fall like flies” in the absence of necessary supplies. There are,” he said.
The official also turned down Wagner’s request for a special plow for digging trenches, he added.
public outburst
Prigogine, a catering tycoon, used his wealth to organize a private army, War in Ukraine a year ago.
He revels in being sanctioned by the West, openly insults Russia’s commander-in-chief, seeks to use his battlefield successes for political influence, and is held prisoner for Wagner’s ranks. I explained in detail that I had solicited
Prigogine is also Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrovand accused the Ministry of Defense of trying to take credit for Wagner’s success in eastern Ukraine.
However, his star seems to be waning. He was stripped of his right to recruit prisoners this year, amid signs the Kremlin is trying to curb his influence.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied restricting ammunition shipments to frontline volunteers, but did not mention Wagner’s forces.
“An attempt to create divisions within the tight mechanisms of interaction and support between Russian forces [fighting] The group is counterproductive and works only for the benefit of its enemies,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Alexei Murabiev, a Russia expert at Curtin University in Australia, told Al Jazeera that Prigozhin was trying to win military contracts from the Russian government.
“Obviously it is [criticism] It’s happening at a time when the Kremlin is realigning its strategy in Ukraine and Prigozhin wants a major slice of this cake. Effectively, he wants to monopolize Russian operations in Ukraine. there is Please give me what I need.”
“Get rid of the nonsense”
This is the second message Prigogine has sent to defense officials in two days.
and obscene message On Monday, he complained that an unnamed official was refusing Wagner’s supplies out of personal hostility to him, and had to “apologize and comply” to rectify the situation.
The defense ministry had previously said Wagner was not under its control, although the militia relied on the state for some weapons and logistics.
Tatiana Stanovaya, head of R.Politik’s political consultancy firm, said Monday’s outburst of Prigozhin looked like a “desperate act” aimed “to get through to Putin.”
It was not clear whether he had Prigogine in mind, Putin in his speech on Tuesday He said he wanted to end the infighting.
Putin told the political and military elite that “inter-ministerial contradictions, formalisms, resentments, misunderstandings and other nonsense must be eliminated. I want to emphasize this.”
In a separate post, Prigozhin said later Tuesday that he could not comment on the president’s remarks about Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine because he was too busy to watch Putin’s speech.
