Russia-Ukraine War: In recent months, many questions have been raised about the relationship between the head of the “Khav Wagner” militia, Yevgeny Prigozhinto the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and that a black cat passed between the two. As a result, it seems that the Kremlin also began to fear the tensions in relations and the increase in Prigozhin’s political power, and even ordered a number of media persons in the country to refrain from covering him, as reported today (Monday) in the British “Telegraph” newspaper.
Sources privy to the details said that the Russian analyst Sergey Markov, known for his support for Putin, was directly instructed not to cover the Wagner force at all, in light of Prigozhin’s “unscrupulous actions”. Meanwhile, Markov said that “the Kremlin is afraid of Prigozhin, and does not want to promote his successes. It is clear that they do not want to allow him to enter the political arena, because it is impossible to predict what he might do.” Also, the “Grey Zone” organization, which is associated with the Wagner Force, hinted at this in its official Telegram account, and noted that there is definitely such a directive from the media, “to ignore Prigozhin, and promote more the successes of the Russian army.”
The “Wagner” group (Photo: REUTERS/Igor Russak)
Russian human rights activist, Vladimir Oshkin, said that “Perigozhin met last year with General Sergey Sorovkin, and with the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in order to convince Putin to give them more powers in the ongoing military operations in Ukraine.” However, Oshkin believes that their experiment was misguided, after they “exaggerated” the public criticism of the Russian army, and after the intervention of the federal security services in the country.
Oshkin also said that “Prygozhin used dirty methods, such as publicly insulting generals, which greatly harmed Sorovkin and his military future. Especially since he was later fired from his position as the commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine last January.” Following this, Putin appointed Valery Gerasimov to lead the Russian army in Ukraine.
According to sources privy to the details, the instructions from Karlin were given after the Wagner force announced last night that its forces had taken over the town of Krasna in Ukraine, located several kilometers north of Bakhmut. For more than six months, Wagner and the Russian army tried by force to capture Bakhmut, a city of limited strategic importance, but gained symbolic importance due to the amount of fighting around it.