Russia Cuts Off Contact With Wagner Group Due to Request for Additional Ammunition

CNN Indonesia

Friday, 10 Mar 2023 17:34 WIB

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Government Russia cut off all lines of communication with the paid team Wagner Group.

In a message posted on Telegram, the boss of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that he had been blocked by Russia because he had asked for additional ammunition for the war.

“To stop the demand for ammunition, they (the Russian government) shut down all the special telephone lines in all the (Wagner Group) offices and units,” Prigozhin said, according to a translation from The Moscow Times.

“Now I can only request (more supplies) through the media and most likely will do that,” he added, as quoted from Newsweek.

Prigozhin’s outburst is a sign of the rift between the mercenaries and Russia. Because early last week, Wagner’s boss also said that his representatives were denied entry to the Russian military headquarters in Ukraine.

Some time ago, Prigozhin and the Wagner Group were claimed to be close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in January, the relationship began to sour after Prigozhin repeatedly cursed the Russian Defense Ministry.

The rift between Russia and the Wagner Group began when Prigozhin unilaterally claimed that his troops were behind the seizure of the city of Soledar.

At that time, instead of mentioning the success of the Wagner Group, Putin actually praised the Russian Ministry of Defense for the success in Soledar. This offended Prigozhin and accused the Kremlin of not rewarding its troops who won on the battlefield.

While Prigozhin frequently criticizes Russian officials, particularly Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Kremlin rarely responds to such criticism.

In October, when asked about Yevgeny Prigozhin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov simply referred to him as a “Russian citizen” who made a “great and worthy contribution” to his country.

The Wagner Group is a Russian mercenary force, which has been involved in the war in Ukraine for the last few months. The bosses of the Wagner Group are suspected of using brutal tactics and recruiting convicts from the prison, to be involved in the war.

In recent weeks, Prigozhin has made frequent public statements directed at Russia. He asked the Kremlin to give his men more ammunition to continue the attack on Bakhmut.

(dna/bac)