Furious Wagner boss hits out at Russian military top: ‘They are committing treason’

By failing to supply and properly support Wagner, Moscow’s military leaders were deliberately thwarting his army of mercenaries. According to Prigozhin, the Russian army also does not want to supply shovels with which its mercenaries can dig trenches.

“There is just direct resistance going on, which is nothing less than an attempt to destroy Wagner. It can be compared to high treason.” said Prigozhin, who is known for his forceful statements and outspoken criticism of the Russian military. He does this through his own channel on the Telegram messaging service. In a second outburst, he said in a voicemail that Wagner’s fighters were “dropping like flies” for lack of supplies.

Growing influence

The Russian Ministry of Defense denies the allegations. They call the non-supply of ammunition “absolutely wrong” and claim that the army is doing everything it can to supply the fighters. They call the public attack on Prigozhin “counterproductive”, which would also be “in favor of the enemy”.

Things have been rumbling for some time between the Wagner boss and the top Russian army, who would not be happy with the growing influence of the unpredictable Prigozhin, a confidant of President Putin.

Wagner, who also recruits his mercenaries from prisons, is also active around the Ukrainian town of Bashmut. There has been a brutal confrontation with the Ukrainian army in recent months, in which hundreds of people are said to be killed every day. The massacre has been cautiously compared to the bitter trench battle of Verdun, France, during World War I, which ultimately claimed more than 300,000 lives.

Shade

Wagner’s controversial group plays an important role in the Ukrainian war. The shadowy private military company has operated under the radar for many years in Libya, Syria and Mali, among other places, where it fights in exchange for valuable raw materials. But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she came out of the shadows: for the first time, Prigozhin admitted having founded Wagner in 2014. He even opened an office in Saint Petersburg.