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Mercenary chief escalates feud with Defence Ministry
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Prigozhin accuses ministry of mendacity to Putin
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Defence Ministry ignores the broadside
By Andrew Osborn
June 22 (Reuters) – Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin added gas to his feud with the highest brass on Thursday, accusing them of mendacity to President Vladimir Putin and the Russian individuals in regards to the scale of Russian losses and setbacks in Ukraine.
Prigozhin, whose Wagner non-public militia spearheaded the Russian seize of the Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut final month, is resisting an order for mercenary teams like his to signal contracts with the Defence Ministry earlier than July 1.
Prigozhin portrays Wagner as Russia’s handiest preventing pressure, and has loved uncommon freedom to publicly criticise Moscow – albeit not Putin, on whose help he and Wagner in the end rely.
But the order to carry militias beneath Moscow’s direct management advised to some that he might have outlived his
usefulness
to Putin in difficult a army hierarchy that has didn’t ship the fast victory he had hoped for.
In a sequence of emotional audio messages over two days, Prigozhin escalated his repeated criticism of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, an in depth Putin ally, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Basic Employees – by accusing them of hiding Russia’s “very critical losses on the entrance” from Putin.
“Whole trash is being placed on the president’s desk. Shoigu and Gerasimov have a easy strategy. The lie have to be monstrous for individuals to imagine it. That’s what they’re doing,” Prigozhin stated in a single message.
“It is all being hidden from everybody. Russia will get up in the future and be taught that (Russian-annexed) Crimea has been handed over to the Ukrainians …
“They’re deceptive the Russian individuals and if it retains on like this we’ll be left with out crucial factor: Russia.”
There was no quick response from the Defence Ministry, which has ignored earlier complaints, in public no less than.
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However it repeatedly says Russian troops have repelled all of the assaults that Ukraine has launched in its two-week-old counteroffensive, inflicting a heavy value in tools and manpower whereas struggling solely small losses itself.
Ukraine for its half has reported modest advances, which President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says have been “slower than desired”. Reuters is unable to confirm the battlefield accounts.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Enhancing by Kevin Liffey)