The Russian mercenary group Wagner has been heavily represented in the Russian force which, since August, has continuously tried to take the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in Donetsk.
But despite the fact that they are fighting for Russia, a power struggle has arisen between the mercenary group and the Russian military.
In mid-February, the news agency wrote Reuters that the Kremlin wanted more control over the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and reportedly ordered him to stop publicly criticizing the Defense Ministry. They are also said to have ordered the state media to stop naming Prigozhin and the Wagner group.
But Prigozhin has not stopped making headlines around the world and recently Prigozhin has expressed growing frustration with the help he receives from the Russian Ministry of Defence. Earlier in March, he stated that he was concerned that the government is trying to make them scapegoats if Russia loses the war against Ukraine.
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Now the think tank writes Institute for the Study of War that the conflict between the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) and the Wagner Group’s leader has probably reached its climax.
– The Ministry of Defense and in particular the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov – are likely to seize the opportunity to deliberately use up both Wagner’s elite forces and prisoner forces in Bakhmut in an attempt to weaken Prigozhin and destroy his ambitions for greater influence in the Kremlin, writes the think tank.
WITH PUTIN: Defense Minister Sergej Shoigu. Photo: AP/NTB
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They write that the Russian Ministry of Defense has increasingly limited Prigozhin’s ability to recruit convicts and secure ammunition.
Tankesmia believes the ministry wants to take revenge on Prigozhin after a conflict he started way back in May.
Then Prigozhin persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to give him access to the Ministry of Defense’s ammunition stockpiles and the opportunity to expand his recruitment of soldiers. A decision which must have been very unpopular with Shoigu and Gerasimov.
