A new “revolution” could rock Russia if its war effort in Ukraine continues, Wagner paramilitary group head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a scathing assessment of Moscow’s military readiness that could further expose divisions in the president’s military hierarchy. Russian Vladimir Putin.
Prigozhin said in an interview with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Russian blogger, that Moscow troops are not prepared to resist forces loyal to Kiev even when they enter Russian territory.
He also praised the Ukrainian army’s capabilities and urged Moscow to step up its war effort if it wants to avoid “a long and costly conflict”.
“I believe that Ukrainians today are one of the strongest armies in the world,” said Prigozhin. He called Kiev’s forces “highly organised, highly trained and their intelligence is at the highest level, they can operate any military system with equal success, Soviet or NATO”.
In recent days, Moscow was embarrassed when a group of anti-Putin Russians entered the Belgorod region in a raid that caused anger and confusion among Russia’s influential military analysts.
Asked about the incident, Prigozhin said Russian defense forces “are absolutely not ready to resist them in any way”.
“Here we are with Ukraine, which is our enemy, in the midst of war, Russian Volunteer Corps groups effortlessly enter and cross [a fronteira] in tanks and APCs [veículo blindado de transporte de pessoal] without any repercussions and make their own videos if that happens”, vented the head of the Wagner group.
Prigozhin frequently criticizes Russia’s traditional military hierarchy as he tries to win a power struggle against military commanders to lead Putin’s ground effort in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier this month, he blamed Russian defense chiefs for “tens of thousands” of Wagner casualties because they didn’t have enough ammunition.
But his comments to Dolgov were alarmist even to Putin’s liberal ally. As he has often done, Prigozhin urged Moscow to step up its war to defeat Ukraine – urging Putin to “declare martial law and a new wave of mobilization”.
He warned that if Russian losses continue to mount, “all these divisions could end in what is a revolution, just like in 1917”.
“First the soldiers will rise and after that – your loved ones will rise. It is wrong to think that there are hundreds of them – there are already tens of thousands of them – relatives of the dead,” he said. “And there will probably be hundreds of thousands – we can’t help that.”
Russian forces, made up mainly of Wagner’s troops, have worked for months to capture Bakhmut – a city in eastern Ukraine of relatively insignificant strategic value where Russia has suffered heavy losses – and their biggest land campaign has been at an impasse since a series of successful Ukrainian counterattacks last autumn.
Source: CNN Brasil
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