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The head of the Wagner mercenary group declared that he did not have enough ammunition on the Ukrainian front and asked for more material from Russia, while accusing Moscow of not wanting “Wagner to exist.” The Russian government denied the accusations.
As the anniversary of the first year of the war in Ukraine approaches, relations between the Wagner group and Moscow are deteriorating more and more.
The head of the Russian group of Wagner mercenaries, Yevgueni Prigozhin, reiterated this Wednesday, February 22, in an audio message shared on his Telegram account that the Russian Ministry of Defense had not given enough ammunition to its fighters who are fighting for the Russian Army. in the Ukraine and that his men were severely short of supplies.
“They didn’t give us ammunition, they still don’t. No steps have been taken to deliver the ammunition,” Prigozhin said.
The millionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked that the Russian military share his ammunition with him.
“If every Russian, without the need to organize rallies, says to give Wagner ammunition, that will already be important,” he said in a recording posted on his Telegram channel.
According to Prigozhin, if all the Russians turned to Defense officials, they would break “their resistance” and put an “end to their arbitrariness.” “We will be able to explain to the mothers of those who fell that others will not die from this cause.”
Strained relations between Wagner and Moscow
Relations between Wagner and Moscow have been deteriorating for some time. Russia appears to be trying to curb the influence of the group that is not officially under the control of its government.
On Tuesday, the head of the paramilitary group accused Russia of treason.
“There is simply direct opposition taking place (to attempts to equip Wagner’s fighters),” he said, adding, “this can be equated to high treason.”
“The chief of staff and the defense minister are issuing orders right and left, not only not to give ammunition to PMC Wagner, but not to help it with air transport,” Prigozhin also alleged.
But this Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry declared in a statement that Moscow did deliver enough ammunition to the paramilitary group and described the accusations as false.
“All the statements allegedly made on behalf of the assault units about the lack of ammunition are completely false,” he said.
“Attempts to create a division within the close mechanism of interaction and support between the units of the Russian (battle) groups are counterproductive and work solely for the benefit of the enemy,” he said.
However, Prigozhin denied these statements, stating that his fighters “dropped like flies.”
Wagner’s boss published a photo showing around a hundred bodies of dead fighters and used it to hold Moscow responsible for the deaths of fighters.
“They are young people who lost their lives as a result of the ammunition famine. There should have been five times less. This means that mothers, wives and children will receive their bodies. Who is to blame for their deaths? Those who should have solved the problem of supply with sufficient ammunition,” Wagner’s boss said.
Wagner will not stop fighting
Although Wagner’s chief assured that the group will not stop fighting, he affirmed that, according to him, the losses of combatants will multiply.
“Twice as many combatants will die,” he said.
He also tried to emphasize the importance of the Wagner fighters to Russia’s war in Ukraine, who are fighting for control of the town of Bahkmut in the Donetsk region.
“When all the Wagner (fighters) run out, (Defense Minister Sergei) Shoigu and (Chief of the General Staff Valeri) Gerasimov will have to reach for machine guns. If they had done what they had done in the last ten years What they had to do, the Wagners would not be necessary. But for now history has arranged for them to be the ones in the vanguard,” said the head of the group.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he wanted to end the infighting, without specifying what exactly.
“We must end – I want to underline – with the contradictions between departments, the formalities, the rancor, the misunderstandings and other nonsense,” he told the political and military elite.
With EFE, Reuters and AP
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