Wagner Group financier still hopes to remove Russian Defence Minister from his position – ISW

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group private military company (PMC), hopes to remove Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defence Minister, from his position after the "decisive victory in Bakhmut" and replace him with former Deputy Defence Minister Mikhail Mizintsev.

Source: ISW report

Quote: "Select Russian strongmen (siloviki) [representatives of law enforcement – ed.] [...] appear to be unsuccessful in their attempts to scare Prigozhin into obedience. Prigozhin stated that he is ready to take on the "bureaucrats" and accused them of attempting to gain more authority while using Wagner to fight the war."

Details: Prigozhin also accused unnamed officials of indifference to the deaths of Russians at the front line and sarcastically stated that Russia’s future defence minister has been in Bakhmut for more than a week when asked if Shoigu had accepted his invitation to visit the front line in Bakhmut.

The ISW recalls that Prigozhin recently made public his cooperation with the former Russian Deputy Defence Minister for Logistics, and now the deputy commander of the Wagner PMC, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, and it is possible that Prigozhin is trying to promote Mizintsev to replace Shoigu.

"Prigozhin is likely aware that Putin is not entirely convinced of Shoigu’s ability to win the war and may be hopeful that a decisive victory in Bakhmut would give him the leverage to replace Shoigu with Wagner-affiliated officials. Both Prigozhin and Shoigu likely perceive this feud as an existential matter," ISW said.

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