Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group seems to be able to receive ammunition from Russia again in the short term. With this, the boss of the private army seems to be getting his way: yesterday he lashed out at the Russian Ministry of Defense for “destroying” his soldiers.
Prigozhin refuses to count himself rich for the time being. According to the mercenary boss, the ammunition deliveries have been promised on paper, but his soldiers have not yet received anything.
The Wagner Group has been fighting alongside the Russians for months, especially in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. In fact, Prigozhin wants to give President Vladimir Putin the city as a ‘gift’ so that he can increase his influence in Moscow. But fulfilling that promise is difficult: so far Wagner has only managed to take a few nearby villages.
According to Prigozhin, the Russian army command is sabotaging his troops. That way they would hardly get any ammunition. Nor would shovels be supplied to dig trenches. Many of Wagner’s soldiers died as a result of the inadequate supplies, Prigozhin claims.
Russia’s defense ministry called the allegations “totally untrue”. Without naming Prigozhin, the department said efforts are being made to sow discord. They would work “exclusively in favor of the enemy”.
Prigozhin spoke of “a treacherous attempt to destroy the Wagner Group” on Wednesday. On Thursday he sounds a lot more cheerful: “I thank everyone who helped us reach this deal. You save hundreds and maybe thousands of lives of men who defend your country.”
Within the Kremlin, ministers guard against ‘too powerful’ Prigozhin
The cracks in the relationship between the Wagner Group and the Kremlin had been visible for some time. Earlier this year, for example, Prigozhin was stripped of the right to recruit Russian prisoners for his private army. According to news agency Reuters that step was taken because other Russian ministers felt that Prigozhin was getting too much power.
Last year, Wagner managed to ‘recruit’ some 20,000 to 40,000 prisoners. If they fought for Wagner, they would get a reduced sentence. But the West suspects that many of them were forcibly sent to Ukraine.
Officially, Wagner has no ties to the Kremlin. But the mercenary army is known for almost always promoting Moscow’s foreign policy.
