Here’s why Wagner Boss stepped up his criticism of the Russian government

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The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has launched a series of criticisms against the Russian government and has been vocal by posting outrageous and provocative statements on his Telegram channels.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed this week that Moscow suffered a humiliating setback as the Russian brigade fled “around the eastern town of Bakhmut in Ukraine.

Prigozhin, whose influence grew enormously in Ukraine’s Moscow offensive, also accused a Russian military unit of fleeing positions near Bakhmut and said the state was unable to defend his country.

The situation on the western flanks is developing according to the expected worst-case scenario,” Prigozhin said in an audio message on Thursday, CNN reported.

Those territories that were liberated with the blood and lives of our comrades are now abandoned almost without a fight by those who are supposed to hold our flanks,” he added.

Prigozhin, who was known as the leader of Putin and his private army, is now publicly launching scathing remarks against Russian military leaders.

He also marred Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations with public and blasphemous criticism of the country’s top military brass.

Today they (Ukrainians) tear the flanks in the direction of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), regrouping in Zaporizhzhia. And a counter-offensive is about to begin,” he said earlier on Tuesday.

Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers. We didn’t deserve this victory by a millimeter,” he added.

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The Prigozhin Wagner group spearheaded Moscow’s fight for the city in eastern Ukraine. He said the soldiers were fleeing because of the “stupidity” of Russian army commanders, who he said gave “criminal orders”.

He also recently made a comment against senior Russian officials that raised eyebrows on social media.

He claimed that the Russian army in uniform was starving its troops of shells and suggested that superiors wavered while Wagner’s fighters died.

The shells lie in warehouses, they rest there. Why are the shells lying in the warehouses? There are people who fight, and there are people who have learned once in their life that there must be a reservation, and they save, save, save these reservations,” he said.

Nobody knows why. Instead of spending a shell to kill the enemy, they kill our soldiers. And happy grandpa thinks it’s okay,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, he quickly backtracked on his grandfather’s comment and clarified that he was referring to former Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Mizintsev or Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

I talked about a grandfather in the context of the fact that we don’t receive shells that are kept in warehouses, and who can a grandfather be? said Prigozhin.

Chief Wagner has accused top Moscow generals of trying to “trick” President Vladimir Putin over the Kremlin’s Ukrainian campaign.

“If all the tasks are carried out in such a way as to deceive the commander-in-chief (Putin), then either he will rip your ass off or the Russian people will do it, who will be angry that the war is lost,” says Prigozhin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, businessman and oligarch, is considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and known as Putin’s leader.

He founded the Wagner Group around 2014 and since then has become a major player in the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.

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