The head of the Russian private military battalion “Wagner”, Yevgueny Prigozhin, in a long interview released this Monday (24), again made strong attacks against the Ministry of Defense and even put in check the progress of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
The interview was given to pro-Kremlin political strategist Konstantin Dolgov and was broadcast in full on the Telegram channel of Prigozhin’s press service. Right at the beginning of the conversation, which lasted more than an hour, the interviewer thanks Prigozhin for agreeing to answer “tough and difficult questions that few are willing to answer.”
Citing the initial goals the Kremlin used to justify the war in Ukraine – “denazification” and “demilitarization” – Yevgueny Prigozhin said Russia had achieved the opposite effect.
“We came brusquely, we walked with our boots across the whole of Ukraine in search of the Nazis. While we were looking for the Nazis, we devastated what we could. We approached Kiev, we failed and retreated. We went more to Kherson: we failed and retreated. And somehow nothing works out for us.”
“Everything was done for the sake of ‘denazification’ and we made Ukraine a nation known all over the world,” added the founder of the paramilitary group.
Regarding demilitarization, Yevgueny Prigozhin declared that the Ukrainian army eventually became “one of the strongest in the world”.
“They have a high level of organization, a high level of training, a high level of intelligence, they have multiple weapons and, on top of that, they work in any system, Soviet, NATO, whatever, equally successfully,” he said. the entrepreneur.
Group founder Wagner also commented on the recent battles in the Russian region of Belgorod, which suffered incursions from Ukrainian sabotage groups last weekend. Prigozhin admitted that the defense of the Russian Federation is not ready to neutralize such attacks: “Where is the guarantee that they will not arrive in Moscow tomorrow?”, He said.
Prigozhin’s scathing remarks about the conduct of the Russian campaign in Ukraine came a day after President Vladimir Putin publicly praised the Wagner group for taking the city of Bakhmut.
Last Saturday, Prigozhin declared that his men had captured the city of Bakhmut after “224 days of fighting”. Kiev has denied that Russia has taken control of the region, claiming Ukrainian forces are encircling the region.
At the same time, the attacks by the head of the paramilitary battalion avoid reaching Putin and are targeting figures from the Russian military high command, in particular Defense Minister Serguei Shoigu and the commander of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov.
In this context of criticism of the Russian operation and attacks on the military high command, Prigozhin suggested radicalizing the establishment of a state of war to achieve success in the war in Ukraine.
“We must introduce martial law, we must announce new waves of mobilization, we must focus as much as possible on the production of ammunition. We must stop building new roads, new infrastructure and working only for war,” he said.
He also said that in order not to fail in Ukraine, Russia must look to North Korea for years to come in terms of “closing all borders” and “taking all its young people abroad and working hard”.
“My political credo: I love my homeland, I obey Putin, I don’t care about (Defense Minister) Shoigu, we will keep fighting,” he concluded.
Editing: Thales Schmidt
