Two of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s closest associates attacked the head of the Wagner PMC mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin, until recently Kadyrov’s ally in his dispute with the central military command in Moscow.

The Kadyriv residents were offended by Prigozhin’s comments on Wednesday through the press service of his Concordia catering company, for which he was called “Putin’s cook”.

Concordia published Prigozhin’s response to an online question about the possibility of release by the so-called Akhmat Chechen Battalion of the Donetsk People’s Republic, one of two unrecognized separatist entities in eastern Ukraine.

Last September, Putin announced the accession to Russia of the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern Ukraine. But in fact, Russia fully controls only the territory of the Luhansk region. As for Donetsk, Putin’s invasion forces have never controlled more than 60% of the territory of the Ukrainian region.

Prigozhin replied that he could not comment on the location of the Akhmat battalion, named after Ramzan Kadyrov’s father, because he did not know the details about it, and all units classified information about their movements.

He added that the forces of the “Akhmat” battalion will have the power to liberate “individual settlements” in the Luhansk region, but they do not have the task of liberating the entire DNR. Parenthetically, including the Russian press, it seems that Kadyrov’s units are referred to by the general name “Akhmat battalion”, although several Chechen units bear this name.

For example, in June of last year, Ramzan Kadyrov announced the formation of 4 new battalions exclusively made of Chechens under the names “Akhmat” South, North, West and East.

The Chechens were furious with the mercenary leader Wagner

Although Prigozhin’s comments could be considered mild irony at worst, they appear to have angered the Chechens.

The first to attack was Adam Delimkhanov, Ramzan Kadyrov’s right-hand man after the assassination of General Magomed Tushaev in the first days of the “special operation”.

“I just saw a call in Telegram, a question to Yevgeny Prigozhin, in which he says that he does not understand what the Akhmat unit does. Zenya, you obviously do not understand and do not have. As always, the “Akhmat” unit performs all tasks assigned by the Supreme Commander. If you don’t understand anything, we can give you a place and time to explain it to you,” Delimkhanov, head of mercenaries, told Wagner.

“It’s in hand. Second, you become a blogger and tell the whole world that we only have problems, that you have no ammunition, and so on. We all know how many people you killed in Bakhmut (not talking about Russian losses) in the 7-8 months you were the leader. Stop talking and shouting, give us a place to meet. As Ramzan Kadyrov said, we can clarify any issues face to face. Enough!”, the Chechen declared.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, subjected to harsh criticism from the Chechen leadership

Delimkhanov goes on to say that, despite Prigozhin’s criticism of the military command in Moscow, he received more resources than “anyone else.”

“And despite this, there are so many losses and victims. Therefore, stop talking, name the place, and we will clarify this issue if you do not understand something,” Delimkhanov insisted.

A member of the Moscow State Duma from the Chechen Republic since 2007, Delimkhanov was awarded the title of “Hero of Russia” by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April of last year after joining the military in Ukraine and participating in the Battle of Mariupol.

Speaker of the Chechen Parliament Magomed Daudov had a similar message to Prigozhin.

“You don’t need to know about opportunities and tasks, Zhenya. This is known both to the command, and to the Supreme Commander, who sets these tasks, and to the head of the republic, the hero of Russia, Ramzan Kadyrov. It is sometimes unclear to me what you are trying to achieve with these daily statements. On the contrary, with your statements, you are increasing panic among the population of our country,” said Daudov, who in July of last year said that the Chechens could reach Berlin if “they are left alone.”

Daudov, in turn, offered the mercenary commander Wagner to name the place for the meeting “in a human way.”

Wagner’s mysterious number two mercenary came to his boss’s defense

Dmitry “Wagner” Utkin, who in 2014 was responsible for creating a group of mercenaries with money provided by Prigozhin, gave an absolutely extraordinary response to the accusations of the Chechens. Utkin rarely appears in public and is a little-known character even in the Russian information space.

In addition to the message to the Chechens via the GRAY ZONE Telegram channel, which is believed to be controlled by Wagner’s group, Utkin also posted a photo of himself descending from a helicopter in what appears to be a front-line zone.

The message itself is in response to several accusations by Chechens loyal to Putin, Utkin also reminds them that they have known each other since the two Chechen wars that took place between 1994 and 1996, 1999 and 2009 respectively.

Utkin expressed his willingness to “talk” with the Chechen leadership, his mention of two wars is not a coincidence in the context in which the Chechens and Utkin were on opposite sides during the conflicts, as the site’s founder Dmytro also notes. Translated.

“Utkin’s appearance on the scene is likely to continue, as it serves Prigozhin’s goal to gain more influence in the internal conflict between camps that is rapidly forming in the Russian public space,” he notes.

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