"The children of the elites...allow themselves to live a public, fat, carefree life, while the children of others come back dismembered in zinc coffins," growled Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin in one of his most recently posted videos on the Internet. The words were delivered as Prigozhin stood before a pile of bloody corpses of Wagner Group fighters. Prigozhin has made a habit of airing his grievances regularly with Russian oligarchs, political elites and senior military officials, particularly Sergei Shoigu, an army general and head of the Russian Defense Ministry. Russian Army General and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, is another frequent target of Prigozhin's ire, something international analysts such as Colin Clark often point out.
On the battlefield, Team Wagner and Prigozhin are approaching a pivotal crossroads in Ukraine, especially in light of Kiev's impending counteroffensive. “We are withdrawing the units from Bahamut… most of the units will be moved to camps in the rear. We surrender our positions to the army," Prigozhin told Wagner's Telegram channel. The announcement brought even more attention to Wagner's future role in Ukraine, as well as predicting what's next for the private military company (PMC), including a possible refocus on the Middle East and Africa, where Prigozhin oversees numerous lucrative services. security. But first, Prigozhin will have to successfully navigate intra-Russian dynamics, which could be especially difficult after his scathing criticism of Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.
In addition to his complaints about a lack of ammunition from the Russian Ministry of Defense and the high casualties suffered by his fighters (Wagner lost up to 20,000 men at Bakhmut alone) Prigozhin has recently become more politically engaged, exasperating Russian elites and warning of the possibility of revolution within Russia if Moscow fails to take the war in Ukraine more seriously. Prigozhin urged the Kremlin to implement martial law, while repeatedly criticizing the Russian military's apparent lack of strategy. He also seemed worried about Ukraine's counterattack.
Many have speculated about what Prigozhin's end game is by unleashing a torrent targeting some of Russia's most prominent political and military figures. Some have suggested it is little more than theater, a ploy to distract Ukraine, another information operation designed to keep Western analysts busy with his every word. Others see it as a possible ploy to raise his own profile politically in Russia. To dispel any notion of a wider break with Putin, Prigozhin felt inclined to state publicly that he has no intention of using Wagner fighters to stage a coup against his boss.
After Shoigu fired a deputy defense minister, Prigozhin hired him to join Wagner. Tensions are rising at a critical time in the war in Ukraine, especially after recent drone attacks on a Moscow suburb home to a number of Russian elites and officials. The only thing certain is that the evolution of the war in Ukraine will show what will be the fate of many and not only Prigozhin.
