Global Courant
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Mercenary chief escalates feud with Department of Defense
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Prigozhin accuses the ministry of lying to Putin
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Department of Defense ignores latitude
By Andrew Osborn
June 22 (Reuters) – Russian leader of the mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin added fuel to his feud with the top man on Thursday, accusing them of lying to President Vladimir Putin and the Russian people about the magnitude of Russian losses and misadventures in Ukraine .
Prigozhin, whose private Wagner militia led the Russian conquest of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, is resisting an order for mercenaries like his to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry before July 1.
Prigozhin portrays Wagner as Russia’s most effective fighting force and has enjoyed an unusual freedom to publicly criticize Moscow – albeit not Putin, on whose support he and Wagner ultimately depend.
Still, the order to bring militia under the direct control of Moscow suggested to some that he might have outlived his own
usability
to Putin by challenging a military hierarchy that has failed to achieve the swift victory he had hoped for.
In a series of emotional audio messages over two days, Prigozhin escalated his repeated criticism of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of Putin, and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of causing “very serious losses at the front” from Russia. from Putin.
“Total rubbish is placed on the president’s desk. Shoigu and Gerasimov have a simple approach. The lie has to be monstrous to be believed. That’s what they do,” Prigozhin said in a message.
“It’s all been hidden from everyone. Russia will wake up one day and learn that Crimea (annexed by Russia) has been handed over to the Ukrainians…
“They are misleading the Russian people and if it continues like this, we will not have the most important thing – Russia.”
There was no immediate response from the Defense Department, which has ignored previous complaints, at least publicly.
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But it repeatedly says that Russian forces have repelled all attacks launched by Ukraine in its two-week counter-offensive, at great expense in equipment and manpower, while suffering only minor losses itself.
For its part, Ukraine has reported modest progress, which President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says has been “slower than desired”. Reuters cannot verify the battlefield reports.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; editing by Kevin Liffey)
