For months, the head of the Wagner private military contractor bombarded Russia’s top military leaders with expletive-ridden insults in a rift that has weakened the country’s forces amid the war in Ukraine.
A Russian government agency is opening a criminal investigation into Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after he called for an armed rebellion on Friday, which was aimed at removing the country's defense minister. In a series of video and audio recordings, Prigozhin angrily accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering a rocket strike on the private military contractor's field camps where the group is fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.
He even made what some considered a thinly veiled jab at President Vladimir Putin as an oblivious "granddad" thinking the invasion was going well.FILE - Russian billionaire and businessman, Concord catering company owner Yevgeny Prigozhin attends a meeting with foreign investors at Konstantin Palace June 16, 2016, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
And it came as the war in Ukraine reached the 16-month mark and Kyiv's forces were probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. Prigozhin’s statement was a "stab in the back of the Russian troops," the FSB said, and amounted to fomenting armed conflict in Russia. The dispute has been followed closely, however, by politically active, ultrapatriotic Russians on social media networks who share his contempt for military leaders.
With his crude remarks, Prigozhin ventured into areas where only Putin had gone before: Over the years, the Russian leader occasionally broke decorum with an earthy remark or off-color joke, while top officials used carefully worded language. FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony, marking the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, June 22, 2023 in Moscow, Russia.
While Putin may keep various factions divided and then "decide who wins and who loses, and who’s up and who’s down," the process erodes the government's authority in wartime, Gould-Davies said.
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