On March 14, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s chef”, was interviewed by Russian journalists from state-controlled RIA Novosti and Russia Today, in addition to Prigozhin’s own media channel, the Federal News Agency.
The interview suggests that the Wagner boss possibly wants to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin in next year’s presidential election, it believes American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Alternatively, it is a jab at Putin, writes Swede The Express.
Part of a larger smear campaign against Putin
According to ISW, it is the way Prigozhin has set up the interview that reveals him.
He usually allows himself to be interviewed in dramatic settings, such as when he laid flowers in a cemetery full of fallen Wagner soldiers, or when he claimed he was a good kilometer from the town hall in Bakhmut earlier in March.
The interview from 14 March stands out in that the Wagner manager is seated behind a desk. Just as we are used to seeing Putin.
“Prigozhin’s latest invention – regardless of intention – promotes a narrative in Russian society that Prigozhin has greater political ambitions in Russia”skriver ISW i sin latest analysis.
The think tank believes Prigozhin’s intentions are either to send a jab at Putin, or an indication that he wants to challenge Putin in next year’s presidential election.
“Prigozhin may be trying to parody Putin’s style as part of a larger smear campaign to attack the Kremlin or draw tactical parallels between Prigozhin and the Russian presidency”ISW writer.
If video: This is how Prigozhin proceeded when he recruited Wagner soldiers from Russian prisons
Prigozjin ville bli president i Ukraine
ISW also writes that Prigozhin has previously insinuated that he could replace Putin.
On March 11, he said, among other things, that he would run for president of Ukraine in 2024 — a statement that a Kremlin-linked Russian academic claimed implicitly promoted a narrative that Prigozhin would run in Russia’s presidential election, which also takes place next year .
On January 18, the Wagner boss directly attacked Putin’s presidential administration, insinuating that some officials working there are traitors who want Russia to lose the war in Ukraine.
Prigozhin also denied the Kremlin’s claims that Russia is fighting Nato in Ukraine and questioned whether there actually are Nazis in Ukraine as the Kremlin – and especially Putin – keep claiming.
In addition, he has accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the top commander of the war in Ukraine, Valery Gerasimov, of trying to “crush” the Wagner group by cutting off their access to ammunition.
The complaint about the lack of ammunition was something Prigozhin also repeated during the interview with the Russian media on 14 March.
