Frequent media appearances by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group, which recruited about 50,000 mercenaries from Russian colonies and decided to confront the General Staff, filled the glass for the Russian defense minister, who ordered en masse – the state media must not advertise “Putin’s cook”, who is on at the top of the “war machine”, reports The Moscow Times.

Prigozhin, who previously said that the Russian military was run by “clowns”, was removed from the small screen: television stations were ordered to stop mentioning the name of the group’s founder, Wagner, pro-Kremlin political scientist Sergei Markov told The New York Times.

The decision to cut Prigozhin from the propaganda matrix. this was confirmed by the same one who came to claim victory on the battlefield of Bakhmut.

He published on the Wagner-affiliated organization Gray Zone a document from the Ministry of Defense of Russia, in which he asked not to mention his name and not to make public his statements about his participation in the war in Ukraine.

Prigozhin deleted Shoigu from the top 10 media personalities

Including the name of the group of mercenaries, which he founded, is banned. From now on, pro-Kremlin journalists are urged to claim that combat operations in Ukraine are conducted by “assault squadrons”, “Russian paratroopers” and “paratroopers”.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, having failed in the war with Ukraine and not having achieved any of his goals, won a victory over Prigozhin in the Kremlin.

He also no longer allows Wagner’s group to recruit prisoners to be sent to the front, which the Russian Ministry of Defense is currently doing.

The Russian mercenary group “Wagner” has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, the head of the paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Thursday, Reuters reports. “We are now fulfilling all our obligations to those who work for us,” he said.

The PR activity of Prigozhin, who boasted that he captured the town of Soledar, and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not confirm his capture, can only alarm the leadership of the Russian army: in January, for the first time in the village of top 10 most mentioned people in the press, while Shoigu left the top 10.

Long-standing disputes between the Wagner group and the Russian Ministry of Defense

The conflict between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and Prigozhin begins with Vladimir Putin’s Syrian campaign and ended with the defeat of Wagner’s troops near Deir ez-Zor.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Russian Ministry of Defense refused to recognize the unit, which was headed in the direction of the Conoco refinery. As a result, hundreds of mercenaries were killed by artillery and helicopter strikes of the American military.

Prigozhin’s coming to “unify” with the leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov at the end of 2022 began to cause more and more concern among Russian elites, in particular officials and businessmen, according to Bloomberg.

Prigozhin’s public calls for “Stalinist repression” against businessmen who did not support the war with sufficient tenacity caused particular fear, sources told Bloomberg.

They said “Putin’s chef” has made many wealthy Russians worry about their safety and the safety of their families.

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