The owner of the private Russian military company Wagner on Tuesday accused Russia’s defense minister and chief of staff of starving his fighters in Ukraine of ammunition, which he says amounts to an attempt to “destroy” the force.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in an emotional audio statement released by his spokespersons that “direct resistance” by the Russian military “is nothing more than an attempt to destroy Wagner.”
Emotional expressions by Prigozhin and his fighters highlighted long-standing tensions between the Russian military and Wagner, who has unclear legal status as Russian law prohibits private military contractors.
Prigozhin said in a raised voice that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov “left and right” are giving orders not to supply Wagner with ammunition and not to support him with air transport. The company was actively involved in heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine.
This “can be likened to treason at the very moment when Wagner is fighting for Bakhmut and is losing hundreds of his fighters every day,” Prigozhin said.
His claims could not be independently verified and there was no direct comment from the Russian military.
The millionaire and his fighters have been claiming for weeks that the military is not providing them with enough ammunition. Wagner’s push to take over Bakhmut, a town in the partially occupied eastern region of Donetsk, has stalled and turned into a bitter struggle.
Prigozhin, too, has repeatedly criticized Russia’s top military in recent months, accusing them of incompetence. And he has raised his public profile by issuing daily statements boasting of Wagner’s supposed victories and mocking his opponents.
However, his criticism seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Last month, Putin reiterated his confidence in Gerasimov by putting him in direct command of Russia’s forces in Ukraine, a move some observers also interpreted as an attempt to downsize Prigozhin.
On Tuesday, in his long-awaited State of the Union address, Putin profusely thanked his military but made no mention of Wagner.