Wagnerian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin risked further angering Vladimir Putin by calling Moscow’s generals “a bunch of clowns” while bragging that his mercenary army is superior to Russia’s armed forces.
Ambitious henchman Yevgeny Prigozhin – who leads Wagner’s 50,000-strong private army – is increasingly seen as a growing threat to the Kremlin leader with his daily demagoguery and outspoken bluster.
His relations with Putin are increasingly strained, according to reports, but Prigozhin continues to taunt the Kremlin speaker and his army’s top brass as his Wagnerian mercenaries and Ukrainian forces remain locked in the battle for the city of Bakhmut .
In further embarrassment for the Russian military, the British Ministry of Defense reported that another top Russian general – General Colonel Mikhail Teplinsky – had been removed from his post as commander of Moscow’s key forces in Ukraine.
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Wagnerian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin risked further angering Vladimir Putin by calling Moscow’s generals “a bunch of clowns” while bragging that his mercenary army is superior to Russia’s armed forces. Pictured: Prigozhin is seen in footage talking to Wagner fighters
Ambitious henchman Yevgeny Prigozhin – who heads Wagner’s 50,000-man private army – is increasingly seen as a growing threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin with his daily demagoguery and outspoken bluster. Pictured: Prigozhin (left) and Putin together in 2010
“Teplinsky was the field officer in charge of Russia’s relatively successful withdrawal from west of the Dnipro in November 2022, and he has received praise in Russia as a capable and pragmatic commander,” the update reads. Mod.
It was unclear whether the general also remained as head of the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV), with the Ministry of Defense suggesting that “the debate over the tasks given to the VDV contributed to his dismissal”.
“Teplinsky’s dismissal is likely another symptom of continuing divisions within the Russian operation’s senior hierarchy as General Valery Gerasimov tries to impose his personal authority on the campaign.”
The Ministry of Defense added: “The Russian force continues to suffer an operational stalemate and heavy casualties; Gerasimov’s prioritization of largely minor regulations is likely to confirm the fears of his many skeptics in Russia.
Meanwhile, in Prigozhin’s latest rebuke to Moscow, Wagner’s boss claimed that his ragged fighters, who are mostly convicts snatched from prison and put into uniform, have performed greater heroic feats than the Soviet soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad, a key military turning point in World War II.
He also openly mocked General Valery Gerasimov – the Russian commander-in-chief – who ordered Russian soldiers to shave their beards as part of a discipline campaign in the armed forces.
Russia’s defense chiefs were “a bunch of clowns” seeking the “glamorization of the military”, said Prigozhin, a Soviet-era inmate who rose to fame hosting banquets and running online troll factories to Cheese fries.
“Female war correspondents go in the absolute heat of [war]said Prigozhin.
“Prison inmates fight better than guard units. Soldiers with broken vertebrae pass on their military experience in training camps, moving like robots.
“And a bunch of clowns try to teach fighters exhausted from hard military work how often to shave – and what kind of perfume to use when greeting high commanders.”
He said: “I think we need to introduce legal restrictions and the most severe punishment with a prison term of up to 50 years for glorifying the military.”
Pictured: Scenes of destruction are seen in video footage from Soledar, which Wagner claimed this month to have captured without the help of the Russian military
Prigozhin compared the fighting at Soledar to the Battle of Stalingrad which lasted from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943, killing millions. Russia’s victory was a blow to Hitler
He backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Russian colonel general, who also sent thousands of fighters to Ukraine – many of them Muslims, like him, with beards.
Kadyrov said: “I can only imagine the feeling of astonishment among our fighters, who did not know such a dangerous enemy in their ranks as facial hair.”
“Drop your machine guns, let’s shave. The Nazis can just wait a moment to discuss their fascist business (a reference to the Kremlin’s repeated false claims that Ukraine is run by a Nazi government).
“As if there were no problems at the front. What kind of stupid thing is this?
This amounted to “a provocation intended to stifle the morale of the [Russian] fighters’.
He blamed loyalist MP and Gerasimov ally Lieutenant General Viktor Sobolev for the mistake after suggesting that shaving was “a basic requirement of military discipline”.
Progozhin said, “I take this opportunity to ask you, Ramzan, to grow your beard twice as long, for you and for me.”
Prigozhin also doubled down on his boast that his Wagnerian force – which includes murderers, rapists, thieves and fraudsters – took the town of Soledar from Ukraine without the help of Russian conventional forces, dressing the achievement as superior. to epic history book Red Army Success in Stalingrad, now Volgograd.
Earlier this month, Prigozhin boasted that his fighters had single-handedly taken control of the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, which was leveled by the fighting.
He said Wagner was probably “the most experienced army in the world today”.
Prigozhin openly mocked General Valery Gerasimov – the Russian commander-in-chief – who ordered Russian soldiers to shave their beards as part of a discipline campaign in the armed forces. Russia’s defense chiefs were “a bunch of clowns” seeking the “glamorization of the military”, said Prigozhin, who backed Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov and his fighters are Muslims and have beards
Pictured: A man wearing a camouflage uniform walks out of the PMC Wagner Center, a project implemented by businessman and founder of the Wagner Private Military Group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the building in offices in St. Petersburg on November 4.
His rant came as he addressed convicts who had served six months in the war zone, whom he had pardoned from their sentences under a secret decree from Putin.
“I came to thank you for what you have done, on my behalf… and the motherland…” Prigozhin said. “You have gone through six months of bitter warfare.
“Neither your grandfathers nor your great-grandfathers were involved in such battles [in World War Two]. Those who were at Soledar know that even Stalingrad pales in comparison, so thank you. The fatherland and our people are indebted to you.
He urged the newly released criminals to forget their past lives but also the barbarity of war as they return to civilian life.
They should keep their “adrenaline inside” and forget what they had learned at the front. In civilian life “there are no enemies, everyone is a friend”.
After facing mockery online for his comparison to Stalingrad, he posted videos he said showed similar devastation.
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943, killing millions. Russia’s victory was a blow to Hitler.
“I treat the history of our ancestors with respect, but here are videos I made from a car window as I approached Soledar,” said Prigozhin, dubbed Putin’s “boss,” although his loyalty blind is now in question.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this week that Prigozhin’s “publicity” of the “superiority and successes of his own troops” had become “overbearing and ostentatiously boastful” and annoyed Putin.
