Prigozhin contradicts Putin – and thus opposes his story

In an interview with the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the head of the powerful Wagner group called the Kremlin’s main story false. There are no Nazis in Ukraine and Russia is not fighting NATO either.

With this, Prigozhin clearly distanced himself from Putin, who always cited the “denazification of Ukraine” as the reason for the war against Ukraine. In addition, Putin always presented the war against Ukraine as a liberation from NATO, which is increasingly running into Russia’s borders. Prigozhin told the ISW that Moscow fought “exclusively with Ukrainians” equipped with NATO-supplied equipment and some “Russophobic” mercenaries who voluntarily supported Ukraine – but not with NATO itself.

Prigozhin leads a paramilitary unit and has always been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unit is full of ex-detainees and has been performing more and more on the battlefield in Ukraine in recent months. Russian media have expressed suspicion that the St. Petersburg businessman may be aspiring to political office himself and now wants to make his mark.

The Wagner group is considered particularly brutal. It is equipped with Russian military equipment and also has some air forces. The force is also involved in the fighting for Bakhmut. There, the force, reportedly made up of up to 40,000 fighters recruited from prisons, is said to have suffered massive casualties. (t-online, cj)

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