U.S. officers consider a prime Russian basic knew forward of time that the founding father of the Wagner Group mercenary military deliberate to march on Moscow in a bid to oust the nation’s army management, in response to The New York Times.
Determining whether or not Gen. Sergei Surovikin helped orchestrate Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted mission final weekend may reply questions on his assist inside Russia’s army institution.
“Current and former U.S. officials said Mr. Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed that others in positions of power would come to his aid,” The New York Times reported.
Gen. Surovkin turned commander of all Russian forces invading Ukraine in October however was changed and demoted three months later by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s basic employees.
Foreign coverage analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to color Mr. Prigozhin as corrupt and a liar to destroy his fame amongst Wagner Group personnel and inside Russian society.
The Kremlin mentioned it paid the Concord Group — the father or mother firm of the Wagner Group chief’s catering firm — greater than $900 million from May 2022 to final May to offer meals to the Russian army. Mr. Putin mentioned the federal government is investigating whether or not the corporate stole any cash.
“Putin has likely decided that he cannot directly eliminate Prigozhin without making him a martyr at this time,” the Institute for the Study of War assume tank mentioned this week. “Prigozhin still retains some support within Russian society and the Russian Regular forces, and the Kremlin will need to ensure that these groups become disillusioned with Prigozhin to effectively deprive him of any of his popular support in Russia.”
Mr. Prigozhin accused Russian army officers of mistreating front-line troops, a message that probably appealed to service members and their households who’ve turn out to be disillusioned with the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“The Kremlin needs to separate Prigozhin’s cause from his persona, lest an attack on [him] be perceived as a Kremlin attack on his popular narrative and his stated objectives of punishing the criminally incompetent Russian [Ministry of Defense] leadership,” the ISW mentioned.
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