Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said on Sunday that he plans to one day create his own private military company in the style of Yevgeny Prigozhin Wagner’s mercenary group, Reuters reported.

The rise of the Wagner Group and other mercenaries outside traditional Russian military command structures has raised concerns among Western diplomats that such groups could one day pose a threat to Russia’s stability.

Kadyrov believes that mercenaries are a “necessity”

In a Telegram post, Kadyrov said the Wagner, which fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, had achieved “impressive results” and that private military companies were a must.

“We can say with confidence that Wagner has demonstrated military strength and raised the stakes in discussions about the need or not of such private military companies,” said Kadyrov, who has been the head of the Chechen Republic since 2007.

“When my service in the public service ends, I seriously plan to compete with our dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin and create a private military company. I think everything will work out,” said 46-year-old Kadyrov.

Kadyrov and Prigozhin lead forces in Ukraine largely autonomous from Russia’s military command and are staunch allies of Putin, but have also publicly opposed the military leadership.

Wagner’s group is playing an increasingly prominent role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, leading a month-long assault on the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.

Kadyrov, the son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a 2004 bombing in Grozny, forged a tacit alliance with Prigozhin, intensifying each other’s criticism of Russia’s military leadership and calling for a more vigorous continuation of the conflict.

Prigozhin, who spent the last decade of the Soviet Union in prison for robbery and fraud, was an ally of Putin for years.

His catering group secured government contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s Chef,” and he enlisted Wagner mercenaries to fight alongside the Russian military in Syria and conflicts in Africa to advance Russia’s geopolitical interests.

After years of denials, he admitted his ties to Wagner last year and said he interfered in the US election.

There is mounting evidence that the Kremlin has taken steps to limit what it sees as Prigozhin’s excessive political influence, ordering him to stop publicly criticizing the defense ministry and advising state media not to mention his name or Wagner.

The Institute for the Study of War wrote that the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, rejected proposals from the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to join a smear campaign against the Russian Defense Ministry, suggesting that the campaign may not restore the weakening of Prigozhin’s influence.

Despite Prigozhin’s efforts, the Chechen leader probably still sees that “his official ties to the Kremlin and his position in the Russian Ministry of Defense are more beneficial than any political relationship with Prigozhin.”