On the eve of the anniversary of the war: Putin’s generals grabbed each other’s throats

The increasingly bitter row between Russia’s top generals and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group, appears to be coming to an end after the paramilitary group’s chief accused the country’s Defense Ministry of “betrayal” by deliberately not providing ammunition to his fighters in Ukraine.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has allowed the rise of outspoken adventurers such as Prigozhin, who takes many of his recruits from prisons, and Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, revealing a rivalry between Russian commanders that could ultimately pose a threat to the Kremlin. Group Wagner is leading the months-long assault on the town of Bakhmut, where its forces have gained notoriety for suicide attacks that Ukrainians say are causing extremely heavy Russian losses.

Moscow’s Defense Ministry condemned as “absolutely false” Prigozhin’s claim that he was withholding ammunition from his fighters. “All requests for ammunition for the assault units are fulfilled in the shortest possible time,” he said. While praising the “courage” of Russian “volunteers” in Ukraine, he denounced efforts to sow division as “counterproductive and only benefit the enemy”.

In a seven-minute audio message posted online on Monday, Prigozhin rebuked Russia’s top military, saying it had been required to “apologize and submit” in its efforts to secure supplies for its people. “I am not able to solve this problem despite all my connections and contacts,” he fumed. He blamed the ammunition shortage on people who “eat breakfast, lunch and dinner off golden plates”.

“This can be equated to treason,” he said. He added that his fighters were “dying en masse” as a result.

Last week, Prigogine made a similar claim about “ammunition starvation” and posted a video of a pile of corpses to emphasize his point about ammunition shortages. He also criticized Russian generals for failing to cut Ukrainian supply lines, making it difficult for his men to take Bakhmut in Donetsk, complaining that it would now likely take months to take the city because of the “monstrous bureaucracy” of Moscow.

Prigogine’s Wagner Group claims that its fighters have not received the recognition they deserve. Last month he had a heated argument with Russian generals over who was responsible for the capture of the Ukrainian malt town of Soledar – his men or regular Russian troops.

His desire to be in the spotlight and his constant accusations of senior Russian commanders for mismanaging the war have contributed to the rise of personal politics that is fracturing Russia’s war effort, and senior generals seem to be weary of it, fearing that Prigozhin is getting in the way of their efforts to improve the coordination of forces on the battlefield.

Earlier this month, Russian military-political bloggers were instructed by General Valery Gerasimov, former chief of the General Staff and now Russia’s commander-in-chief in Ukraine, to reduce coverage of Wagner.

Prigozhin was also banned from recruiting more fighters from Russian prisons, and there was growing talk that the Wagner group in Ukraine would be placed under the command of the National Guard and moved away from the Ministry of Defense, which is essentially demotion.

According to analyst Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of R.Politik, efforts by the top leadership to remove Prigozhin’s Wagner group appear to be increasing. She argues that Prigozhin has become politically vulnerable, and his star is fading with recent reshuffles at the top of the Russian military. She notes that Gerasimov’s transfer to Ukraine “drastically reduced Wagner’s autonomy and seriously changed Prigozhin’s relationship with state agencies.” She said Monday’s release of an audio statement accusing the Defense Ministry of treason was an “act of desperation” and “an attempt to reach Putin through publicity.”

However, it is not clear how the Russian president will react.

“These disagreements probably infuriate him,” says Stanovaya.