The boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner on Wednesday urged the Russians to put pressure on the army to provide ammunition to his men, an unprecedented call illustrating the extent of the tensions between the mercenaries and the general staff.
Yevgeny Prigojine has been accusing the Russian high command of treason for several days for refusing to provide ammunition to his men who are on the front line in the battle for the city of Bakhmout, in eastern Ukraine.
Tensions have increased in recent weeks, illustrating the divisions within the Russian forces two days before the anniversary of the launch of the Russian offensive, now bogged down in the face of resistance from Ukrainians reinforced by Western military aid.
They could also indicate, according to analysts, that the star of Mr. Prigozhin, a 61-year-old businessman whose rise on the public scene has been meteoric since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, is in the process of turn pale.
“If every Russian at his level — to (avoid) calling anyone to demonstrate — just said, ‘Give Wagner shells,’ […] then it would already be important,” Mr. Prigojine said in an audio recording released by his press service.
“If the driver tells his boss to give Wagner shells; if the stewardess at boarding says to give shells to Wagner; […] if the presenter says live to give shells to Wagner, we will break them and force them to stop doing anything, ”he launched, attacking the Russian military hierarchy qualified in the past of “monstrous”.
“There are shells. But it is necessary that politicos, bastards, garbage affix their signature so that they are delivered, carried away Mr. Prigojine.
” Treason “
This call for individual mobilization is unprecedented in Russia where criticism of the Kremlin or the army is harshly repressed.
Since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, criticizing the Russian army is punishable by 15 years in prison. Several opponents and anonymous people are imprisoned under this law.
On Tuesday, Mr. Prigojine had already accused Chief of Staff Valéri Guerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of “treason” by not delivering the ammunition demanded by Wagner.
He accused the high command of having even forbidden to deliver to Wagner “shovels which allow them to dig trenches”.
According to him, the objective is to “destroy” Wagner on the battlefield, while Mr. Prigojine acknowledges that his group suffers “hundreds of casualties” every day.
On Wednesday, he relayed a photo showing the bodies of dozens of fighters lined up in the snow, he said killed the day before due to a lack of ammunition.
“Their wives, mothers and children will receive the bodies. Who is guilty? Those who are responsible for solving the ammunition delivery problem,” he said.
” Desperate ” ?
Russia’s Defense Ministry responded to the ‘treason’ charges on Tuesday with a statement detailing how many munitions it said were supplied to ‘volunteer assault squadrons’, a name the military appears to be using to refer to Wagner and other groups. of that type.
Asked about the dispute on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
Tensions between Wagner and the Ministry of Defense had already appeared during the civil war in Syria where Moscow supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
For independent Russian analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, who heads the R.Politik analysis center, Mr. Prigozhin’s latest outings could be due to the greater verticality of the Russian command in Ukraine since the Chief of Staff, General Guerassimov, directly took the reins of the offensive in January.
This measure has “drastically reduced the autonomy of Wagner” which until then seemed to operate independently in Ukraine, underlines the analyst.
Mr. Prigozhin’s public statements also indicate that he “has no direct access to Putin”, according to Ms. Stanovaya. “It’s a desperate act […] It is an attempt to contact Putin in a public way and scare off the military authorities,” she adds.