The financier of Wagner’s mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, appears to be advancing his political aspirations by trying to gain control of Just Russia — For Truth, a left-wing party believed to be pro-Kremlin, currently led by MP Sergei Mironov and with close ties to Igor Dodon’s socialists. former president of the Republic of Moldova. On the other hand, Prigozhin criticized the Russian Foreign Ministry for the first time, and the response given to him by the institution headed by Sergei Lavrov indicates that the Kremlin is trying to block any socio-political rise of the Wagner leader. comments the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in the latest assessment of the situation at the front.

The Russian opposition publication Meduza writes that Prigozhin’s increasingly cooperative relationship with members of the “Just Russia – For Truth” party probably indicates that he is trying to gain control of the party. Meduza noted that four party members left to create a new movement, some of them cited the closeness of party leader Serhii Myronov and Prigozhin as the reason for leaving.

ISW has consistently reported on the growing rapprochement between Mironov and Prigozhin, and noted that Mironov’s request for recognition of Wagner’s merits in Russia could provoke a further split in the Kremlin.

Two Kremlin sources and an insider in the St. Petersburg regional leadership said Prigozhin was considering a leadership position in the St. Petersburg chapter of the Just Russia for Truth party to challenge St. Petersburg Governor Oleksandr Beglov for influence in the city.

Meduza’s sources said that Prigozhin was previously interested in investing in the political party “Rodina” and could be interested in a position at the federal level. For his part, Serhiy Mironov is probably trying to revive his political influence and use Prigozhin as a patron of his political ambitions.

Prigozhin criticizes the minister led by Sergei Lavrov

At the same time, Meduza sources noted that it is unlikely that the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation will allow Prigozhin to gain control over the “Just Russia – For Truth” party due to his conflict with officials of the Putin administration and Beglov.

In this way, the Russian Foreign Ministry directly responded to Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin’s criticism of his agenda for Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council, marking the first time a Russian state agency responded to an official criticism of Prigozhin, ISW notes.

On April 7, Prigozhin criticized the work of Sergei Lavrov’s ministry in Africa, saying that the Russian Foreign Ministry is doing “absolutely nothing” and that Wagner is facing “huge difficulties” in interacting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other state institutions in the region. The Foreign Ministry responded to Prigozhin’s criticism on April 9 and said it was ready to cooperate with Russian companies and entrepreneurs to promote Russian business abroad and that a number of upcoming events under the Russian presidency of the UN Security Council would be devoted to African issues.

Prigozhin later responded to the IEA, questioning its ability to resolve issues through the UN Security Council and instead published a list of issues that the oligarch believed required urgent discussion at the Security Council, most of which related to supporting Russia’s actions in Ukraine and Africa.

The Kremlin gives Prigozhin a thumbs up

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s attack on Prigozhin is a continuation of the Kremlin’s attempts to discredit and undermine the financier Wagner. The Foreign Ministry, other Russian government agencies and Kremlin affiliates are likely to seek to block any attempts by Prigozhin to gain public or political support, ISW believes.

For its part, the Ministry of Defense of Russia refused to name the “Wagner” PMKs as participants in the battle for Bakhmut, instead calling them “assault units”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov indirectly accused Prigozhin of deliberately exposing conflicts between the Ministry of Defense and the Wagner PMC.

Russian political scientist Oleksiy Mukhin, who speaks at the Kremlin-affiliated Valdai debate club and in Russian state media, criticizes Prigozhin for pursuing political goals that threaten Wagner’s power in Bakhmut.

Prigozhin probably criticized the agenda of the Russian Foreign Ministry at the UN Security Council, trying to present himself as a statesman capable of influencing foreign affairs and gaining the support of the Russian ultra-nationalist community. He continues to try to expose himself publicly, exaggerating the role of Wagner forces in Russia’s successes in Ukraine and using his popularity in the Russian nationalist media space to criticize the Russian government, the ISW analysis concluded.

In recent months, Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military leadership of inefficiency, up to treason. (Source: News.ro)