- Evgeny Prigozhin, who heads the mercenary Wagner Group, seems to have turned his back on Vladimir Putin.
- Prigogine’s relationship with Putin dates back to the 1990s, when his catering company served the Kremlin.
- On Thursday, Prigozhin vowed to withdraw troops from Ukraine, blaming Putin for their deaths.
Evgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, formerly dubbed “Putin’s chef” for his ties to the Russian president, has been providing the Kremlin’s hired troops for years and recently Sacrifice them to the “meat grinder” of the war in the city of Bakhmut to support Vladimir Putin’s dream of victory over Ukraine.
But his decades-long alliance with the Russian leader may be coming to an end.
Washington Post Leaked US intelligence documents allegedly shared on Discord server by National Guard officer Jack Teixeira lead Russian military leaders to respond to Putin for months as Prigozhin complains about army ammunition shortages Prigozhin posts a series of angry videos online criticizing the Kremlin, which previously asked Putin personally to intervene.
“His rant suggests that his pleas fell on deaf ears.” post report.
According to the documents, Russian Defense Ministry officials considered launching a smear campaign through agents to discredit Prigogine, but it is unclear whether such a campaign was launched.
In a series of videos posted to Telegram on Thursday, Prigozhin appeared hostile to Putin, accusing the military chief of cutting him off from ammunition and supplies and leaving his private army to die on the battlefield. Prigozhin has compared the Battle of Bakhmut to a “meat grinder”, he previously reported, Insider.
“We’re 70% out of ammunition! Shoigu! Gerasimov! [beep] Ammunition?” He said in a blatant ranting video, also released on Telegram, that military leaders who don’t give their troops ammunition “will eat hell out of them.”
“Your animals are hanging out in expensive clubs,” he continued. “Your children are enjoying life and making videos for YouTube. do you think you have the right to control their lives?”
Prigozhin vowed to withdraw troops from the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut by May 10.
Prigozhin and Putin’s relationship began in the 1990s when the business mogul founded a catering company that frequently served Russian leaders and the Kremlin, eventually becoming “Putin’s Chef.” nickname was given to him. But Prigozhin’s skills were not limited to the culinary world. He also funded a so-called troll factory known as his Internet Research Agency that tried to interfere in US elections. 2018 Indictment by the Department of Justice.
Prigozhin found a powerful ally in Putin, and the two became close friends, with Prigozhin serving as an unofficial advisor to the Russian president, giving Putin strategic advice on international strategy and, ultimately, military operations.
When Prigozhin founded Wagner Group in 2014, the business was not legally registered in the country and mercenaries were illegal under Russian law. according to the timesit became the Kremlin’s de facto private military service, deploying soldiers not only during Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but throughout Africa and the Middle East.
Insiders have previously reported that since the Wagner Group began grabbing headlines and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, after Prigozhin appeared to take credit for his wartime victory over official Russian military strategy. , the relationship between the two is strained.
It remains unclear exactly what effect Wagner’s withdrawal will have on the Ukrainian invasion, but Prigozhin said in March that the entire Russian front would collapse if his fighters failed to secure Bakhmut. suggested that it would
Representatives of the Defense Department and the Russian Federation government did not immediately respond to an insider’s request for comment.
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