The leader of the Wagner paramilitary group has openly contradicted key aspects of the Kremlin’s account of the war in Ukraine, according to the USbased Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Yevgeny Prigozhin has dismissed claims that Russia is fighting NATO and questioned whether there really are Nazis in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that invading the neighboring country is necessary to rid Kiev of neoNazis who threaten Russia’s peace and security, despite scant evidence to support this.
At the same time, she increasingly portrays the war as an existential struggle against NATO, which Moscow says is encroaching on Russia’s borders.
Prigozhin said Russia is fighting “exclusively with the Ukrainians,” armed with materiel supplied by NATO and some “Russophobic” mercenaries who voluntarily support Ukraine but not with NATO itself, ISW said on Thursday.
He expressed doubts about the goals of “denazification” in Ukraine, the lack of certainty of the presence of “Nazis” in the country and “effectively dismissed” the Kremlin’s longstanding claims that Russia must defend itself against a NATO threat.
“It is ridiculous to think” that the Russian authorities did not know that NATO would come to the aid of Kiev, Prigozhin said, according to ISW.
Once a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the paramilitary entity, which includes exconvicts, has become increasingly visible on the battlefield in Ukraine, with Prigozhin appearing to challenge the Russian army on several occasions.
Independent Russian media have speculated on the extent to which Prigozhin has political ambitions in mind.
Wagner Group troops are fighting a hard and bitter battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The group is believed to have exhausted the ranks, which were recently filled with up to 40,000 prisoners.
In Thursday’s assessment, the Institute for the Study of War said Prigozhin had “toned down rhetoric towards the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), probably out of fear of losing the mercenary force in Bakhmut entirely.”
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He expressed concerns about a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive, claiming that 200,000 reserves were assembling on the Eastern Front.
ISW said the “exaggerated claims… [foram] probably an attempt to get more supplies and reinforcements from the Russian Ministry of Defense to save Wagner Group forces at Bakhmut.
Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the battle for the former salt mining town began last summer, Western officials say.
The seismic nature of the battle bears no relation to Bakhmut’s strategic importance, they add.
However, the fight has become deeply symbolic as Russia looks forward to clear victories on the battlefield after a series of setbacks and Ukraine looks to prove its mettle to the western supporter community.
In an implicit allusion to the divisions within the Kremlin, Prigozhin also called on the Russian military and media to stop downplaying Ukraine’s strengths and engaging in internal conflicts.
The killing of nine Chinese gold miners in Central African Republic last Sunday has been linked to the Wagner Group, and the fact that it coincided with a longawaited meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping further soured the relationship between the group and Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry has sought to downsize and reduce the role of Wagner Group forces in Ukraine, with Bloomberg revealing it will not allow the mercenary leader to pay tribute to Bakhmut on TV.
Since the fighting began, around 90% of Bakhmut’s population has fled the invasion.