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Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who turned his Wagner force against the Russian military leadership, has created a trouble for the Kremlin during the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military top brass had boiled over Saturday after which the mercenaries captured a key army headquarters in southern Russia and then headed north to threaten the capital.
The Wagner rebellion posed the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s long rule and Russia’s most serious security crisis since he came to power in 1999. However, before the crisis could turn into a disaster for Kremlin, the Belarus president intervened and the rebellion was resolved as it was decided that Prigozhin would leave for Belarus and a criminal case against him will be dropped.
The Saturday crisis didn’t erupt all of a sudden. Rather, the crisis was imminent as it unfolded after several months of friction between the Wagner group and the Russian defence ministry while war went on in Ukraine.
First Signs
Prigozhin, who was known as Putin’s chief and his private army, fought for Putin in Crimea and Syria though he does not enjoy any official ranks in the Russian military ranks. He was granted a certain degree of autonomy to operate in the Ukraine war. However, the Wagner chief got into conflict with the military leadership and his rift with Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu intensified as the war progressed.
After more than six months of Ukraine War, Yevgeny Prigozhin raised concerns about the way the war is progressing with the Russian president. The Russian military had suffered huge casualties and losses of critical military equipment after the first months of war. Prigozhin criticised the Russian military’s war efforts in an attempt to rope in the Wagner mercenary into the Ukraine war.
Control of Soledar
Since the first signs, the rift between the mercenary boss and Russian officials has continued to grow as Prigozhin made repeated statements condemning Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
Wagner group, in January, said that it completed the takeover of the Ukrainian town of Soledar and took credit for the success in the Ukraine war.
However, Putin during a live television address on January 13, failed to mention Wagner troops’ role in the fighting and instead attributed the gains to the Russian Defense Ministry. This led to Prigozhin saying the Kremlin was not giving Wagner mercenaries the rightful credit for making battlefield gains.
Battle of Bakhmut
The Wagner group spearheaded the fight for Bakhmut, which was one of the longest and fiercest battle in the Ukraine war, and where the group suffered huge losses in the months-long storming of the city.
During the fight in Bakhmut, Prigozhin went vocal in criticising Russian military of denying ammunition and other resources to the mercenaries fighting on the battlefront.
He also threatened to pull out his soldiers from Bakhmut blaming Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for “tens of thousands” of Russian casualties in a series of blistering, profanity-laced videos.
After winning the battle in Bakhmut, Prigozhin said that Russia’s top generals were trying to “deceive” Putin over the Kremlin’s Ukraine campaign. He also questioned the Kremlin’s ability to defend the country as Ukraine prepares for a spring offensive.
Russian Could Face Revolution
In the light of Ukraine readying for a counteroffensive, Prigozhin cautioned that Russia was in danger of turmoil and warned that the country could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the conflict unless the elite got serious about the war.
He warned of Ukraine counteroffensive, wherein Kyiv would try to encircle Bakhmut and attack Crimea. “Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war,” he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.
He has reiterated that Russia’s military leadership had “fucked up” repeatedly during the war and called for more military and resources to increase the aggression against Ukraine.
‘Russia’s Grandpa’
Yevgeny Prigozhin has also been believed to have insulted Russian president Putin last month while ruining over the lack of ammunition for the Wagner soldiers.
Prigozhin reportedly issued an expletive-filled diatribe on his Telegram channel, where he said, “’They’re collecting (artillery shells) in warehouses – why, no one knows. Instead of spending a shell to kill the enemy and save the lives of our soldiers, they let our soldiers die – and the “happy grandfather” thinks this is good for him.”
Prigozhin went on with his criticism of Vladimir Putin and labelled him a ‘complete a**hole’
‘If he turns out to be right, then God bless everybody… but how will we win the war, if, by chance – and I’m just speculating – it turns out that this grandfather is a complete a**hole?” Prigozhin further said.
He added, “The shells give freedom. And if they don’t give freedom with the shells… if they keep holding onto them then first we need to shove it up their a*** and then throw them in jail.”
However, he quickly backtracked on “grandfather” comment and clarified that he was referring to the former Defense Minister Deputy Mikhail Mizintsev or Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
‘Putin’s butcher’
The Wagner chief has been referred to as Putin’s chef for a long time, owing to his past associations with Kremlin where he began taking contracts in the Russian military.
However, Prigozhin said his nickname “Putin’s chef” was stupid as he could not cook and had never been a chef and added that “Putin’s butcher” might be a more apt nickname.
Prigozhin’s contempt for Kremlin and the Russian military ranks didn’t go unnoticed. Former Russian commander Igor Girkin claimed last month that Russia will face a “mutiny” from the Wagner group and chief Prigozhin.
The former Russian commander claimed that Prigozhin was laying the ground for a “mutiny” and to carry out a “coup” against the Kremlin.
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