The private military company (PVK “Patriot”) of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, which competes with PVK “Wagner” of Yevgeny Prigozhin, was spotted near Vugledar in the Donetsk region, writes “Ukrainian Pravda”.

Minister of Defense of Russia Sergey ShoiguPhoto: Vadym Savitsky / TASS / Profimedia

“In particular, in the area of ​​Stepno on the Vugledar Front, I noticed that in addition to the “Wagner” PEC, the “Patriot” PEC, affiliated with the current Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Shoigu, appeared. Obviously, they are gathering all their combat capabilities in order to achieve at least some positive results,” said the spokesman of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy Tserevaty.

Commenting on the rumors about the conflict between Yevgeny Prigozhin’s “Wagner” PMC and Sergei Shoigu’s “Patriot” PMC, Cherevaty noted that these groups compete. At the same time, they are located in different “theaters of military operations.” In his opinion, there is no direct interaction between them.

In November, “Ukrainian Sprotiv” reported that the founder of the “Wagner” PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was strengthening his position in Russia amid the defeats of Russian troops on the battlefield, for which “Putin’s cook” accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The Center of National Resistance reported that Prigozhin blamed Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov for failures at the front.

The Polish Warsaw Institute think tank wrote in 2018 that a new Russian private military company is operating in Syria.

Then the petition of war veterans on the legalization of private military companies, in particular “Patriot”, was sent to the presidential administration.

As the Russian independent TV channel “Dozhd” reported at the time, it is about a statement on the legalization of mercenary work by a group of Russian war veterans.

Since then, the Warsaw Institute has pointed out that Wagner’s competition is the military company Patriot, which is closely related to the Ministry of Defense.

At the same time, the Polish think tank noted, Patriot offered better salaries, equipment and training.