Wagner Mercenary: Evgeny Prigogine Becomes Vladimir Putin’s Rival

After a great initial success, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries have been in decline for months over his relationship with Vladimir Putin. It must have been a thorn in the Kremlin leader’s side that his personal army was able to record small victories time and again, while the progress of the traditional Russian military quickly stalled before the eyes of the world.

Wagner Group increasingly loses concessions

Except that Criticized “Putin’s chef” like Yevgeny Prigozhin For his earlier work as a caterer to the Russian chancellor, he continued to argue that the Russian army was inefficient and that his Wagner troops were not supplied with sufficient ammunition. To control the power of the Wagner Group, Putin banned the recruitment of prisoners And he once again announced that he was increasingly relying on the Russian military.

Yet Prigozhin has continued to tease, announcing in mid-March that he would run for the Ukrainian presidency in 2024. To Alexei Mukhin, a Russian political scientist and member of the Kremlin-affiliated group Valdai Discussion Club, the meaning behind the sarcastic announcement is clear. As he writes on his Telegram channel, the Russian public is increasingly interpreting Prigozhin’s announcement. An upcoming candidate for the 2024 Russian presidential election are going to take place.

“Prigogin looks for a scapegoat”

“Could Evgeny Prigogine have told Vladimir Putin about his presidential plans?” asks Mukhin rhetorically. Aleksej Mukhin, the “burgeoning politician” that Wagner calls the boss, has rounded up his troops in Bagmut and is now looking for a scapegoat. But whether Moscow will come to the rescue is questionable.

Because, as the “Institute for the Study of War” writes, it is now noticeable that the Russian Ministry of Defense is trying to blame Prigozhin for the slow progress and high losses of Pakmut. First The city of Bakhmut had been fighting hard for months So the Kremlin could deliberately deploy Wagner’s troops to underestimate the importance and effectiveness of Prigozhin’s mercenaries.

The British Ministry of Defense estimated that half of the prisoners fighting for the paramilitary organization were killed. Given the heavy casualties and the loss of the ability to recruit prisoners directly from prison, the Wagner Group may play an increasingly minor role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The future will show whether this is enough to dislodge the Kremlin boss from the Wagner boss as a potential contender in the presidential election.

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