Russian state television accused Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Sunday of having “lost his mind” after receiving millions in public money, illustrating the new power narrative over the paramilitary group since the aborted riot.
“Prigozhin has lost his mind over large sums of money,” Dmitri Kissiliov, one of the leading voices in the Kremlin’s media apparatus, said on his weekly show on the public channel.
“The feeling of taking everything for granted started a long time ago, with operations [do Grupo Wagner] in Syria and Africa,” he continued.
According to Kissiliov, this sentiment was “reinforced” after Prigozhin’s mercenaries seized the Ukrainian cities of Soledar and Bakhmut earlier this year.
“[Prigozhin] he thought he could oppose the Russian Defense Ministry, the state and the president himself,” said Kissiliov who, to illustrate the Wagner Group leader’s alleged delusions of grandeur, noted without presenting any evidence that the military company received $858 billion. rubles (8.8 billion euros) of public money.
According to Kissiliov, “one of the main factors” in the ‘Wagner’ mutiny was the Russian Defense Ministry’s refusal to extend the lucrative contracts signed with the Concord catering group, also belonging to Prigozhin.
The Wagner Group rebellion, which took place on June 23 and 24, rocked the Russian authorities in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
For several hours, the ‘Wagner’ fighters occupied a Russian army headquarters in Rostov (southwest) and traveled several hundred kilometers towards Moscow.
The mutiny ended on the night of June 24 with an agreement for Prigozhin to leave for Belarus.
No sanctions have been announced against the mutineers, but the future of Prigozhin’s companies seems uncertain. For the past week, web news portals close to the group have been blocked in Russia.
Last Saturday, the group’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, the Wagner Center, announced on the Telegram social network that it was going to change its location, ensuring, however, that it would continue to operate but under a “new format”.
Prigozhin insisted that his revolt was not aimed at overthrowing the government, but rather to save ‘Wagner’ from being dismantled by the Russian General Staff, which he shamelessly accuses of “incompetence” in the Ukraine conflict.
As of Monday, June 26, Prigozhin has not made any public statement. On Sunday, Kissiliov disputed the idea that the ‘Wagner’ fighters were the most effective of the Russian forces, saying it took “225 days” to take Bakhmut, compared to “70 days” it took the regular army to take Mariupol. .
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of almost 15 million people -more than 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries-, according to data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At least 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and more than 9.3 million need food aid and housing.
The invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need for what he defined as “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community in general, which has responded by sending arms to Kiev and the imposition of political and economic sanctions on Moscow.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war almost 9,000 dead civilians and more than 15,000 wounded, stressing that these figures are far from the real ones.
Source: TSF
