Putin sides with Shoigu in conflict with Wagner Group founder

The Washington Post has reported that the Russian Ministry of Defence has planned to discredit Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner PMC, citing leaked US classified documents.

Source: WP

Details: After Prigozhin's harsh attacks on the ministry's leadership, the ministry began planning an information war against him.

The Russian Ministry of Defence did not want to fight Prigozhin on its own, but planned to "find allies with equal status to fight him".

According to media reports, Prigozhin begged Putin to continue recruiting mercenaries in prisons [after the Ministry of Defence had banned him from doing so – ed.], to train newly conscripted people and to facilitate the recruitment of foreign fighters, especially Afghans.

The leaked documents say that Putin told Prigozhin to deal with these issues with the defence ministry on his own, practically siding with his generals.

The Washington Post has concluded that Prigozhin was allowed to berate officials because it was in line with Putin's strategy of dividing political territory and the battlefield in Ukraine into separate, competing groups so that no group becomes too powerful.

The classified documents do not answer the question of whether or not the Wagner PMC received ammunition, which Prigozhin has been complaining about in recent months.

The document has stated that the information was obtained by intercepting or tapping communications.

Background:

• On 5 May, Prigozhin wrote to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence and said that he would withdraw the Wagner mercenaries from Bakhmut on 10 May.
• Prigozhin claims that the reason for this step is that the Russian Ministry of Defence does not provide his fighters with enough ammunition, and he does not want his men to be "doomed to senseless death" because of this.
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sceptical about the statement by Prigozhin that the militants will start leaving Bakhmut on 10 May.
• Later, Kadyrov offered his assistance in the occupation of Bakhmut.
• Prigozhin said that he would hand over the positions of his militants in Bakhmut to the soldiers of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

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