team leader Wagner Russian mercenariesYevgeny Prigozhin has been in conflict with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense for several months now, tensions are rising and leading to an armed rebellion led by this 62-year-old businessman.

But what prompted you to take this step? This clues explaining the conflict with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

History in Syria

The friction between Wagner and Defense dates back to Russian campaign in Syriaduring which Prigozhin repeatedly accused Shoigu of using “archaic methods”.

For his part, the Russian Defense Minister replied to Prigozhin, known as the “cook” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.for his food contracts with the state, criticized for the poor quality of food supplied to the Russian army in Syria.

Prigozin considered the Russian military command responsible for the attack on Wagner’s positions in Palmyra, where three mercenaries were killed, and one of the commanders of the paramilitary group Andrei Bogatov lost his arm.

He also accused Moscow of deliberately provoked the fire of American aircraft against mercenaries during the Battle of Hasham, 2018.

Capture of Soledar

Although the Wagner forces, which consisted mainly of couriers recruited by Prigogine, joined the Ukrainian campaign almost from the very beginningbegan to gain prominence during the capture of the city of Soledar in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, annexed by Russia in September last year.

Head of a paramilitary group several times criticized the defense for not giving due importance to deserved his people for taking the city during the war.

In fact, he directly accused the military leadership of “appropriating” the merits of Wagner.

“They constantly try to steal the victory Wagner mercenaries and talk about the presence of someone incomprehensible, just to belittle their merits,” he said.

Bakhmunt’s butcher shop

Tensions grew during the fighting for the city of Bakhmut, also in Donetsk. Russia’s bloodiest and longest military campaign in Ukraine.

Prigozin blamed the Russian military command constant failures in the supply of ammunition and directly accused Shoigu and Gerasimov of “treason.”

He linked the lack of ammunition to the heavy losses of Wagner and stated that Shoigu and Gerasimov deliberately refused to equip this formation and that they will answer for this before the mothers and wives of the dead warriors.

This was one of the most famous videos of Boss Wagner because in it he yelled at two warlords, he insulted them and showed behind him numerous corpses of supposedly mercenaries killed in action due to lack of ammunition, he says, in the onslaught.

open flanks

As the Wagnerites increased their control over Bakhmut, Prigozhin asked the Ministry of Defense for support to cover the flanks of the mercenaries in the face of strong Ukrainian counterattacks in the west and south of the city.

The Russian Ministry of Defense sent, having received an ultimatum from a businessman, regular troops for this purpose, but these they failed to hold all the territories previously captured by Wagner on the outskirts of the city, which once again provoked the wrath of Prigozin.

With this in mind, Wagner’s chief threatened to leave their positions in early May, when the paramilitary group practically controlled almost the entire city, but agreed to continue after pressure from the Ministry of Defense.

Bakhmut’s withdrawal and the Ukrainian counteroffensive

After the capture of Bakhmut at the end of May Prigozhin announced the gradual departure of Vanger city ​​and transferring it to the rear to recuperate.

During this process, he stated that the Ministry of Defense mined the route and captured a Russian soldier allegedly responsible for the events.

Already in the rear, he supported his criticism of the military command, which he accused of inability to contain the attacks of the Ukrainian army and lost more than a hundred square kilometers and blamed the Ministry of Defense for a large number of casualties.

Refusal to sign a contract with protection

Another controversy was caused Prigozhin’s refusal to allow mercenaries to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense obey Shoigu, as the minister decided in early June, even after Putin insisted on this procedure.

The head of the paramilitary group indicated that his troops “will not follow the path of shame.”

He angrily and ironically asked Shoigu if only 20 thousand mercenaries who died in Bakhmut, they had to sign a contract.

On the same Friday, Prigozhin accused the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of retreating in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine and of mislead the President of Russia about the real state of affairs at the front.

He especially attacked Shoigu, whom he called “a trembling grandfather.” we would have to judge by the deaths of “tens of thousands of young people.”

Insurrection

A few hours after these statements, Prigozhin accused the Russian army of shelling the camp private military company and promised to punish those responsible.

At the dawn of this Saturday, Wagner’s troops crossed the Russian border and occupied the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, after which the columns of this formation left for Moscow to “deal” with those who “destroy” Russian soldiers.

He said that “more than 100,000 Russian soldiers” fell in battle due to the lack of leadership of Shoigu and Gerasimov.

The Russian president called the Wagner uprising treason and confirmed that those responsible would pay for it.

Until Prigozhin listened to his words, declaring that Putin was “wrong” and that Wagner won’t give up until he’s “in stock” two responsible for the “lawlessness” in Ukraine.

Later that Saturday, Prigogine agreed to stop the march on Moscow and start negotiations to reduce tensions through the mediation of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

(According to information from EFE)