(Reuters) – Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the paramilitary group Wagner which supports Russian forces in the war in Ukraine, on Tuesday criticized the Russian defense minister and chief of staff for depriving its fighters of ammunition, accusing them of to want to destroy his group.
The Russian Defense Ministry rejected the accusations, denouncing as “absolutely false” the idea that Moscow was depriving the paramilitary group of ammunition, which, it added, would have the effect of helping the enemy.
In its lengthy statement, the ministry did not mention Wagner’s name.
“There is simply direct opposition going on,” Yevgeni Prigojine said on Telegram messaging, adding that it was an “attempt to destroy Wagner.”
This is the second message of this type published in two days by Evguéni Prigojine. On Monday, the former restaurateur complained that unidentified officials were refusing to supply Wagner out of personal animosity towards him.
Yevgeny Prigozhin has accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the country’s highest-ranking officer, of deliberately causing the arms shortage which he says is leading to increased casualties among the military. troops fighting around Bakhmout.
“The Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense are giving orders right and left, not only not to give ammunition to PMC Wagner, but also not to help him with air transport” , said Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Later in the day, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in another Telegram message that his schedule did not allow him to listen to Vladimir Putin’s speech and therefore could not comment on the Russian President’s comments on the ‘Special military operation’ in Ukraine.
For months, Yevgeny Prigojine has been criticizing senior Russian officers, accusing them of incompetence. According to him, the Defense Ministry was trying to take credit for Wagner’s successes in the city of Bakhmout in the Donetsk region.
(Reportage Reuters; French version Matthieu Protard and Augustin Turpin, editing by Kate Entringer and Jean Terzian)
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