The showdown begins. Accustomed to bitter outings against the Russian Defense Minister, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group Evgueni Progojine, for the first time this Wednesday, faced Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the head of the private militia, heavily committed to the front, has been in open conflict with the Russian General Staff and its minister Sergei Choïgou. The latter, the target of criticism amid the Ukrainian counter-offensive, ordered “volunteer detachments” fighting for Russia to sign a contract, in late June, officially binding them to the army.
After an initial categorical refusal by Yevgueni Prigojine, the Russian president supported his minister’s initiative on Tuesday. “It must be done and it must be done as quickly as possible,” he told pro-war bloggers, citing “common sense” and respect for the law.
“No contract with Shoigu”
Following the statements by the Russian president on Wednesday, Wagner’s chief reacted again to this initiative, seen as a way of reducing the influence and independence of his soldiers: “Wagner will not sign any contract with Shoigu.”
“When we started to participate in this war, nobody said that we would be obliged to make agreements with the Defense Ministry,” he was annoyed, while his men are the main architects of the progression in Bakhmout this winter and spring.
He also said: “None of Wagner’s fighters is ready to take the path of shame again. And therefore no one will sign contracts”, calling on Vladimir Putin to find a “compromise”.
Evgeny Prigokhine therefore made the decision not to follow the orders of the highest Kremlin summits, unlike another media figure of the war, Ramzan Kadyrov, president of Chechnya, who hastened to sign the contract, before the cameras of the state television, and to send a message to the founder of Wagner.
“We must all abandon our own ambitions, unite around our Supreme Commander Vladimir Putin, work for common goals and support our soldiers,” he said on Telegram.
This Wednesday night on our antenna, Piotr Tolstoy, the vice president of the Duma, the equivalent of the National Assembly in Russia, did not want to dramatize the situation, on the contrary: “Wagner’s soldiers are the best soldiers in the Russian army.” , they will continue to attack the Ukrainian army up to the Polish border.”
Source: BFM TV
