For months, mercenary chief Wagner has been bombarding Russian military leaders with profanity, criticizing and reprimanding their competence in an ongoing conflict that has weakened the country’s armed forces during the attack on Ukraine.
Now the standoff between Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Defense Ministry seems to have come to a head when the multi-million dollar leader of the mercenary group called for an armed uprising, directly challenging the Kremlin.
Prigozhin said he would take all necessary steps to overthrow the country’s military leadership, as he claimed his troops had “crossed state lines” and were ready “to destroy anything that gets in their way.”
As the Wagner militia appeared to be charging at Moscow, Prigozhin vowed to punish military leaders whom he accused of killing 2,000 of his fighters after claiming that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had ordered a rocket attack on his encampments.
But 62-year-old Prigozhin, who made his living from catering services and earned himself the nickname “Putin’s chef,” was not long ago considered a close ally of the Russian president and the Kremlin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of military company Wagner Group, addresses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy March 3, 2023
Prigozhin, 62, made his living from catering services and earned the nickname “Putin’s chef.”
An armored personnel carrier (APC) was sighted near a shopping center in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday
Born in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, in the Soviet Union in 1961, Prigozhin spent part of his early life in prison after being convicted of robbery and fraud.
After Prigozhin was released from prison in 1990 after serving nine years, he began selling hot dogs at his hometown flea markets. He told the New York Times in 2018: “The rubles piled up faster than his mother could count them.” And when the Soviet Union fell apart, Prigozhin founded several companies.
Having worked in a grocery store, and then in a gambling shop, Prigozhin later became a restaurateur. After the success of several outlets, Prigozhin began to secure lucrative catering deals in the Kremlin with the Russian elite.
This propelled him to the forefront of Russian politics and signaled his growing ambitions.
Eventually, he became closer to Putin himself and is said to have received hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts to feed schoolchildren and government employees.
It is believed that these contracts, some of which were later linked to the military, prompted him to found the mercenary group Wager, although information on their exact origins is sparse.
Prigozhin had long denied any connection to Wagner and threatened to sue journalists covering his involvement with the group.
The group gained a reputation for doing the Russian military’s dirty work, leaving a trail of brutal violence, rape and war crimes. For years after its inception, the Russian government refused to even acknowledge the group’s existence.
General Sergei Surovikin (left) and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are pictured in December
Vladimir Putin (centre) speaks with Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov (left) and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in December
Armored vehicles appear on the streets of Moscow in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Wagner’s first assignment came in 2014 on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where he supported Russian-backed separatist groups fighting the country’s new government after a 2013 revolution that toppled the pro-Kremlin president.
They have since gone to Libya – where they fought for warlord Khalifa Haftar against the Western-backed government of national unity – and to Syria, alongside dictator Bashar al-Assad’s troops.
They have also been deployed to the Central African Republic, where they have been accused of raping, robbing and torturing unarmed civilians, and are currently being deployed to Mali, where they are accused of massacres of civilians.
So far, Putin and the military have met Prigozhin’s rants against the military leadership with silence. Some saw a failure to quell the infighting, a sign of possible shifts in Russia’s political scene that set the stage for more internal struggles.
A video Prigozhin released in May seemed to inflame some of the rifts between the military and militia – not only because of what it showed, but also because of what the Wagner boss said. Standing in front of the bloodied bodies of his slain troops near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, he shouted profanities and insults at Shoigu and Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov. He called her weak and incompetent and blamed her for the bloodbath.
“They came here as volunteers and died to let you lounge around in your mahogany offices,” Prigozhin explained. “You sit in your expensive clubs, your kids enjoy the good life and make videos on YouTube. ‘If you don’t give us ammunition, you’ll get eaten alive in hell!’
Prigozhin was once known as “Putin’s cook” – now the Wagner boss seems to be waging war against the Kremlin
Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner group, attends the funeral of Dmitry Menshikov in December
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (right) accompanied by a group of officers welcomes a military medic in Ukraine
The dispute with the military intensified on Friday when he accused Shoigu of targeting Wagner troops. Prigozhin said his men would punish the military leaders who ordered the attack and said his troops would fire on any troops trying to stop them.
“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” Prigozhin called out in a recorded statement, adding that his forces made no attempt to challenge Putin and other government structures. “Justice in the armed forces will be restored, and then justice will be restored across Russia.”
The conflict has so far been ignored by state-controlled television, which is where most Russians get their news. But on Friday, Channel 1 aired an unscheduled newscast citing the Defense Ministry’s rejection of Prigozhin’s claim and calling as fake a video he released that allegedly showed the aftermath of a rocket attack on a Wagner camp.
However, the dispute drew the attention of politically active, ultra-patriotic Russians on social media, who share his contempt for military leaders.
Prigozhin’s fierce criticism continued, despite the Kremlin cracking down on other critics, handing out fines and imprisonment.
While there are no signs that Putin is losing influence, “there are increasing signs of deep dysfunction, fear, concerns about the war and real problems in providing the resources needed to fight it effectively,” Nigel said Gould-Davies, a senior scholar for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Prigozhin’s feud with military leaders dates back years and was brought to light during the Battle of Bakhmut led by his mercenaries. It has propelled the man dubbed “Putin’s chef” because of his lucrative catering deals in the Kremlin to the forefront of Russian politics and signaled his growing ambitions.
Yevgeny Prigozhin takes part in the meeting with investors at the 2nd Eastern Economic Forum on September 2, 2016
The head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has repeatedly ridiculed the reports from the Russian Defense Ministry
With his blunt statements, Prigozhin ventured into areas only Putin had previously ventured into: over the years, the Russian leader occasionally broke decency with a down-to-earth remark or an inappropriate joke, while top officials used carefully crafted language.
In another recent video, Prigozhin made a statement that some interpreted as a thinly veiled attack on Putin himself. He explained that while his men were dying because the Department of Defense wasn’t supplying ammunition, a “happy grandpa thinks he’s fine,” and then referred to that “grandpa” with an obscene remark.
The blunt comment caused an uproar on social media, where it was taken as a reference to Putin. Prigozhin later said he spoke about Gerasimov.
“Prigozhin is now sailing much closer to the wind than ever before,” Gould-Davies told The Associated Press.
Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political commentator, described Prigozhin as “the second most popular man after Putin” and a “symbol of Russia’s military victory to millions of people.”
Putin needed Prigozhin’s mercenaries at a time when the regular military was still recovering from setbacks at the start of the war. The Wagner chief’s position was strengthened after his private army captured Bakhmut last month in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. He relied on tens of thousands of convicts who were promised pardon if they survived the fighting for six months.
“Putin dominates the system, but he still depends on a small number of big people to implement his will and provide him with resources to carry out his orders, including waging war,” Gould-Davies told the AP.
While Putin may split different factions and then “decide who wins and who loses and who’s up and who’s down,” this process undermines the government’s authority in wartime, Gould-Davies said.
“If your military forces are divided and don’t work together effectively, your military operations will suffer accordingly, and that’s what’s happening here,” he said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private mercenary army, grumbles about the recent casualties and the lack of ammunition in early May 2023
The mercenary chief has made a number of cryptic but profane remarks about Russia’s military leadership
Mark Galeotti, a London-based expert on Russian politics and security, speculated on a recent podcast that Putin’s failure to resolve political disputes was due to a lack of interest, a focus on other issues, or, more likely, a reluctance to take sides , could be due to .
“It also raises questions about his overall ability to do his job,” Galeotti said. “That’s the one thing, the only job he can’t really outsource, and he’s not even trying.”
Prigozhin has allied himself with other aggressive officials, including reportedly Tula Governor Alexei Dyumin, a former bodyguard of Putin who is seen by many as a potential successor. The Wagner boss has also become attracted to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow-backed regional leader of Chechnya.
Some of these alliances have been shaky.
While initially praising Prigozhin and supporting some of his criticisms of military leaders, Kadyrov later changed tack and criticized him for his defeatist tone. Kadyrov’s lieutenants criticized Wagner’s efforts in Bakhmut after Prigozhin made disparaging remarks about Chechen fighters in Ukraine. Kadyrov’s right-hand man, Magomed Daudov, said Prigozhin was executed for such statements in World War II.
Prigozhin quickly backed down, saying he was only expressing concern about the Russian operations.
Prigozhin has dodged questions about his political ambitions, but recently toured Russia and continued a flurry of stormy commentary.
“There are signs that he aspires to a political future,” Gould-Davies observed.
While Prigozhin owes his position and wealth to Putin, he is playing the role of an outsider in his criticism of some leaders and his attempt to appeal to the masses in the face of backlash in Ukraine, said Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment.
“Prigozhin plays an independent politician who ups the ante and tests the limits of the system.” “But it’s technically and physically possible only as long as Putin finds him useful and amused by his antics,” Kolesnikov said.
To show his support for the military, Putin backed the Defense Ministry’s demand that all private companies sign contracts with the military — something Prigozhin has opposed.
Prigozhin called for a full-scale war with Ukraine, including a full-scale nationwide mobilization and the imposition of martial law in Russia — calls welcomed by some hawks.
But Kolesnikov points out that the vast majority of Russians, who are largely apathetic or unwilling to make major sacrifices, may be frightened and appalled by this message.
He warns against overestimating Prigozhin’s influence and political prospects and underestimating Putin’s authority.
“A finger movement of the commander-in-chief is enough to make the Wagner boss disappear,” said Kolesnikov.