06/05/2023 03:42 pm (act. 06/05/2023 03:42 pm)
Head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin ©APA/TELEGRAM/ @concordgroup_official
The head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says he is making concrete preparations for the imminent withdrawal of his fighters from the front in eastern Ukraine. Prigozhin’s press service announced on Telegram on Saturday that he wanted to accept a transfer offer from the head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.
Kadyrov had previously claimed that men from his “Achmat” unit could take over Wagner mercenary positions in the hotly contested Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
More than a year after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, an open struggle for power is taking place within the Russian military leadership. Prigozhin has recently repeatedly publicly complained about an alleged shortage of ammunition. On Friday, the 61-year-old announced that he would withdraw his fighters from Bachmut for this reason.
Now Prigozhin has also published a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu asking him to issue an order for the posts to be handed over to Kadyrov’s men. This operation should be completed by midnight next Wednesday, he said.
Russia’s army, which has been fighting in the Bakhmut region alongside Wagner’s troops in extremely costly battles, has not commented on Prigozhin’s threats and accusations. The Ministry of Defense had already remained silent on the matter on Friday. Instead, the authorities announced – without explicit reference to Prigozhin – that Shoigu had ordered that weapons deliveries to the combat zone be kept under “special control”.