The head of the Wagner mercenary group made a statement on Friday, accusing Russia of causing significant casualties among their forces through targeted strikes. He expressed determination to respond to these attacks, thereby escalating tensions between Moscow and the private military company.
The chief of the Wagner mercenary group on Friday accused Russia of killing a “huge number” of its forces in strikes and vowed to retaliate, ratcheting up tensions between Moscow and the private military company.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, whose men have bolstered Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, has ramped up his verbal attacks against Moscow in recent weeks, including questioning the very need for the military operation.
Once believed to be a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin is increasingly seen as keen on a political role as he engages in an all-out war of words with Moscow, that appears to have spilled onto the battlefield.
He warned Russians against resisting his forces and called on them to join him, adding “there are 25,000 of us”.
The Russian defence ministry denied the claims about the strikes, saying the statements “do not correspond to reality”, and calling them a “provocation”.
After years of operating in the shadows, Prigozin has in recent months admitted to running the elusive mercenary group and even interfering in US elections.
However, this week he accused Moscow’s top brass of deceiving Russians about the offensive in Ukraine.
Rarely has such a controversial figure shot to this degree of prominence on the Russian political stage under Putin.
Prigozhin rose from a modest background to become part of the inner circle around Putin.
He has accused the Russian military of attempting to “steal” victories in Ukraine from his forces, and slammed Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy” for slowing military gains.
Russia’s FSB security services launched a criminal probe into calls to stage “an armed mutiny” after the head of the Wagner mercenary group vowed to resist Moscow’s military leadership, officials said Friday.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP