Wagner, owner of a Russian private military company, on Tuesday accused Russia’s Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of depleting fighter ammunition in Ukraine, accusing it of attempting to “destroy” the military. bottom.
Billionaire Evgeny Prigozhin, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, condemned “direct resistance” from the Russian military in an emotional voice statement released through his publicist. , denounced it as “nothing but an attempt to destroy Wagner”.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov have issued orders “left and right” not to supply Wagner with ammunition and not to support it with air transport, Prigozhin said aloud. The company has been actively involved in heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine.
This “can be compared to high treason at the very moment when Wagner is fighting for Bahmut and losing hundreds of fighters every day,” Prigogine said aloud.
Prigozhin’s claims could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from the Russian military.
The millionaire and his warriors have been arguing for weeks that the Russian army has not provided enough ammunition.Wagner seizes Bakhmut, a key city in Ukraine’s partially occupied eastern Donetsk region. I tried, but it stalled and it turned into a fierce battle.
Emotional statements from Prigogine and his combatants underscore the long-running tensions between private Wagner, whose legal status is unclear, and the Russian army, as Russian law prohibits private military companies. embossed.
Prigozhin has repeatedly criticized the top Russian military officials in recent months, accusing them of incompetence. He’s also been making his name more and more known, issuing messages app statements daily boasting of Wagner’s alleged victories and ridiculing his opponents.
But his criticism seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Putin last month reaffirmed his trust in Gerasimov by appointing him directly in charge of Russian forces in Ukraine.
In his much-anticipated national address on Tuesday, Putin thanked his army greatly, but made no mention of Wagner.
