Prigozhin wants to know: The head of the Wagner Group is said to be no longer just active in the Ukraine war, but also in Russian domestic politics.
Moscow - The Wagner Group caused an international stir in the Ukraine war, and there were repeated reports of their brutal actions.
A German expert recently even compared the Wagner mercenaries to the Waffen SS.
Now her boss and financier Yevgeny Prigozchin is the center of attention: he apparently wants to take over a party.
Wagner boss Prigoshin is trying to take over a Russian party
Only recently have there been reports that Russia wants to limit the Wagner Group's mercenary monopoly and thus deprive Prigozhin of power.
However, a real feud between him and his longtime friend Putin is unlikely.
As the Russian opposition newspaper
Meduza
, which is based in Latvia, now reports, Prigozhin apparently does not want to be pushed out of the political arena so easily.
Accordingly, the Wagner boss wanted to take over the St. Petersburg branch of the conservative party "Fair Russia".
She is extremely close to the party with the most members, United Russia, of which Vladimir Putin is also a member.
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The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigoschin, apparently wants to take over a party.
© Handout / TELEGRAM/ @concordgroup_official / AFP
Rich through the Ukraine war: Wagner boss Prigoschin apparently wants to take over the Russian party
Prigozhin has been flirting with greater political influence in Russia for some time.
According to
Meduza,
he is said to have considered running for president himself in the next election in 2020, and two years later he is said to have tried to found his own party.
However, he has now changed his strategy and wants to expand an already existing party by taking over “Fair Russia”.
Four members had already left the party at the beginning of April, including the chairwoman of the branch in St. Petersburg, Marina Shishkina.
“I belonged to a party full of intellectuals and professional politicians, safe in an open, tolerant and enlightened St. Petersburg.
Unfortunately, the party's agenda has recently moved in a direction that doesn't align with my understanding of justice," she was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Wagner boss Prigoshin: relations with party chairman Mironov
Two months ago, Shishkina publicly criticized the close relationship between Prigozhin and the party's overall chairman, Sergei Mironov.
The latter spoke in March of a "heroic action" by the Wagner mercenaries in the Ukraine war.
Putin's circle of power in the Kremlin - the confidants of the Russian President
Putin's circle of power in the Kremlin - the confidants of the Russian President
Mironow also confirmed to other Russian newspapers that he was friends with Wagner boss Prigozhin.
“We talk on the phone a lot and also write back and forth.
He's very professional," said Mironov.
However, he denied the political ambitions of the head of the mercenary troop.
Wagner boss Prigozhin: Military successes in Ukraine should be followed by political ones in Russia
Two sources from inside the Kremlin, about whom no further information is given, have confirmed to
Meduza
that Prigozhin wants to take over the party in St. Petersburg and is accordingly in negotiations with Mironov.
Accordingly, the close relationship between the Wagner boss and Putin could also be an advantage for him.
However, it is questionable whether the Kremlin wants to grant Prigozhin that much power on a political level outside of the Ukraine war.
In some circles he is therefore considered "uncontrollable".
If Prigozhin and his mercenary troupe continue to achieve military successes in Ukraine, political cooperation could be reconsidered, informants said.
At the moment, however, the international focus in the Ukraine war is on the leaked US documents.
(mef)
List of rubrics: © Handout / TELEGRAM/ @concordgroup_official / AFP