Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin hopes to remove Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu after the “decisive victory in Bakhmut” and replace him with retired Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Mizintsev.
Source: Report of the “Institute for the Study of War” (ISW)
Literally: “The siloviki did not seem to succeed in their attempts to intimidate Prigozhin into submission. Prigozhin said he was ready to fight the ‘bureaucrats’ and accused them of trying to gain more power by using Wagner to wage war.”
Details: Prigozhin also accused unnamed officials of indifference to the deaths of Russians at the front and sarcastically stated that the future Russian defense minister has been in Bakhmut for more than a week, answering the question whether Shoigu accepted his invitation to visit the front line in Bakhmut.
Analysts recall that Prigozhin recently made public his collaboration with the former Deputy Russian Defense Minister for Logistics, and now Deputy Commander of the Wagner PMC, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, and it is possible that Prigozhin is trying to promote Mizintsev to replace Shoigu.
“Prigozhin probably knows that Putin is not entirely convinced of Shoigu’s ability to win the war, and may be hoping that a decisive victory at Bakhmut will give him the leverage to replace Shoigu with Wagner-linked officials. Both Prigozhin and Shoigu, probably perceive this feud as a matter of existence,” the ISW report says.
2023-05-18 02:07:41
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