Prigozhin calls on Russians to pressure army over ammunition supplies

RFE/RL
Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:00 UTC

© Financial Times

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner cofounder

Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a co-founder and owner of the Wagner mercenary group, has called on Russians to pressure the army to give his fighters more ammunition amid Defense Ministry denials that it is holding back supplies for artillery and missile-launchers in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

"If every Russian at his own level -- in order not to call anyone to rallies -- would simply say 'give ammunition to Wagner,' as is already happening on social media, then this would already be important," he said in an audio post on Telegram on February 22.

The call comes a day after Prigozhin accused top armed forces officials of committing "treason" by failing to supply his private troops, who have been a major force in the battle to take the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with enough ammunition. He says his troops regularly lack about 80 percent of the ammunition they need while fighting against Ukrainian armed forces in the Donetsk region.

In response, the Russian Defense Ministry rejected Prigozhin's claims, saying that all volunteer brigades in Ukraine's east are being supplied with all types of ammunition in a "timely" fashion. Without naming Prigozhin, the ministry said:

"The attempts to impose a split in the tight mechanism of cooperation and support between Russian units are counterproductive and benefit the enemy."

Prigozhin subsequently called the Defense Ministry's statement a "spit in the eye of the Wagner private military group and an attempt to cover up its crimes against the fighters who today are carrying out acts of bravery." He added that there are no other volunteer groups apart from Wagner troops in the city of Bakhmut, where the most intensive battles have been lasting for months.

Two days earlier, in another audio statement, Prigozhin accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the Russian Army General Staff Valery Gerasimov of refusing to deliver ammunition to Wagner in "an attempt to destroy" it. Prigozhin added that he was required to "apologize and obey" in order to secure ammunition for his troops.

Wagner has recruited thousands of inmates from penitentiaries across Russia since last summer.

Comment: Update: Resumption of Wagner Group ammo supplies

Yevgeny Prigozhin says his units have started to receive ammunition after he accused the Defense Ministry of treason by holding back supplies for artillery and missile-launchers in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin's press service issued a statement on February 23, in which Wagner's said he had been informed "at 6 a.m. today that the ammunition was being sent."

In an audio statement a day earlier, Prigozhin had called on Russians to pressure the army to give his fighters more ammunition, reiterating that the Defense Ministry had deliberately disrupted ammunition deliveries to his fighters. He also posted a picture depicting dead Russian mercenaries who allegedly died on 21 February because they had no ammunition to fight back.

"It looks like the process started. At least on paper, but we were told that the major documents had been signed," Prigozhin said of the resumption of ammunition supplies.