"Where are you?" Gruppe Wagner dish out against Russia's military leadership
Created: 12/28/2022 3:33 p.m
By: Sebastian Richter
Prigozhin and the Kremlin are growing ever further apart.
Wagner mercenaries are dissatisfied with the military leadership in the Ukraine war - their boss jumps in with them.
MOSCOW - The notorious Wagner group has started a public standoff with Russia's military leaders and state media.
Members of the Wagner Group have released a video expressing their displeasure with the leadership.
In it they demand more weapons for the fight in Ukraine and insult the Russian chief of staff of the armed forces, General Valery Gerasimov.
The leader and founder of the Wagner group apparently supports the demands of his fighters.
"We have nothing to fight with, we have no ammunition.
The boys there are dying for us... We are fighting the entire Ukrainian army at Bakhmut.
Where are you?
It's time for you to help us," said one of the Wagner fighters in the video, which circulated on social media.
News about the Ukraine war: Wagner boss Prigozhin confirms the authenticity of the video
The clip from the Ukraine war was staged, Russian media reported in response to the insults.
The fighters shown in the video are Ukrainians in Russian uniforms.
However, the founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, contradicts these reports.
"There are no [Ukrainian] nationalists in this notorious video," Prigozhin said in a message posted to his company Concord Management and Consulting's Telegram channel.
Instead, Prigozhin confirmed that the men were fighters from his Wagner group - and jumped in with them.
"The guys asked me to pass on that it's hard to hear the problems at the front when you're sitting in a warm office, but when you're lugging the dead bodies of your friends every day and see them for the last time, then it will Replenishment urgently needed.
And you want everyone to move and at least to some extent think about how the people at the front are doing," Prigozhin said.
The problems raised by his "boys", which "unfortunately arise at every step", will be solved or a solution will be forced.
A soldier from the Wagner Group in October.
The mercenaries are angry with their military leadership.
(Archive photo) © Imago/Viktor Antonyuk
News on the Ukraine war: Prigozhin moves away from the leadership in the Kremlin
Prigozhin, known as "Putin's cook," has often criticized the Kremlin, which is unusual by Russian standards.
The entrepreneur is increasingly pursuing his own interests and is preparing for a time after Putin, they say.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Prigozhin has been appearing in public more and more often.
According to a report by the US magazine
Newsweek
, citing the Middle East Institute (MEI), Prigozhin often shoots at the military leadership.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is one of the main goals.
One of the possible reasons for the feud: in 2014, Shoigu fired his deputy, from whom Prigozhin is said to have received lucrative defense contracts.
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News about the Ukraine war: Prigozhin buys weapons for his mercenaries from North Korea
In addition, Prigozhin is said to have bought weapons from North Korea for his Wagner mercenaries, who are used by the fighters in the Ukraine war.
"We can confirm that North Korea has completed an initial arms shipment to the Wagner Group, which paid for this equipment," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said ahead of Christmas, according to
Newsweek
.
"Last month, North Korea shipped missiles to Russia to be used by Wagner," it said.
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Prigozhin denied dealings with North Korea.
"Everyone knows that North Korea has long stopped supplying weapons to Russia.
And no such efforts were made," the Reuters news agency quoted a statement by Prigozhin as saying.
"Therefore, the arms shipments from North Korea are nothing but rumors and speculation," it said.
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pron.
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