The whole intra-Russian military conflict thing looks like it's real.Prigozhin, who emerged as one of the crucial leaders of Russia’s invasion since Wagner took a leading role on the front lines, has been embroiled in a feud for several months with defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who Prigozhin has accused of sabotaging the war effort together with Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s general staff.
He claimed Shoigu had ordered the alleged air strike in secret, then “ran away like a bitch to avoid explaining why he sent helicopters to destroy our boys”.
“The evil brought by the country’s military leadership must be stopped. Those who destroyed our boys today and ruined the lives of many tens of thousands of our soldiers will be punished,” Prigozhin said.
Without explaining what specific steps Wagner would take, Prigozhin added: “I ask that nobody resist. We will consider everyone who resists to be a threat and destroy them at once.”
Pretty serious talk! Prigozhin is the CEO of Wagner, the massive Russian mercenary force that Russia needs in order to keep up its invasion of Ukraine. (Prigozhin was formerly and maybe still is a caterer.)
In the earlier video on Friday, Prigozhin said Russia’s defence ministry concocted false pretences to trick Putin into invading Ukraine and said Moscow could have avoided the war entirely.
Prigozhin claimed Russia had faced no immediate threat from Ukraine when Putin began his full-scale invasion last year and accused the army’s top brass of deceiving the president for their own personal gain.
Prigozhin’s regular diatribes, in which he claims Russia runs the risk of losing the war after Ukraine began a counteroffensive earlier this month, had indicated elite infighting was getting fiercer as Moscow’s war effort continues to struggle.
Though Prigozhin notably refrained from criticising Putin personally and has backed the war’s goals, the video was the first time he publicly questioned Russia’s rationale for the full-scale invasion.