Moscow police and the FSB arrested an employee of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner’s mercenary group, on Wednesday, the arrest of a man who runs several Telegram channels criticizing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior Russian officials, suggesting a fight could break out. to the authorities in Moscow.

Oleksiy Slobodenyuk is an employee of Prigozhin’s media group “Patriot”, a person who manages several popular Telegram channels in Russia, the most famous of which are “Unleash Z Kraken” and “Skaner”.

As the Institute for the Study of War notes in its latest assessment of the conflict in Ukraine, Telegram channel “Scanner” published criticism of important officials and military leaders in Moscow, in particular Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and Kremlin Spokesman Dmytro Peskov.

“The Russian authorities detained Slobodenyuk on charges of fraud. His arrest shows that the Kremlin is trying to limit permissible criticism in the media space – Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin’s former chief of staff, appears to be a legitimate target, while officials close to Putin, such as Lavrov and his press secretary Kalika, are untouchable. notes ISW.

But several foreign journalists and analysts who specialize in Russia-related issues, including Tadeusz Gitsan, a researcher at the Center for European Political Analysis, say that numerous critics of Shoigu were also featured on channels run by Slobodenyuk.

The arrest comes after Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an attack on Russia’s defense ministry and military headquarters in Moscow earlier this week, without directly mentioning Sergei Shoigu.

What is known about the detention of Wagner’s mercenary employee

It is interesting that the video recording of Slobodenyuk’s arrest was first distributed on his Telegram channel by Oleksandr Ginshtein, the deputy general secretary of the General Council of Putin’s United Russia.

“Anonymity in Telegram is a myth, the technical capabilities of special services allow for successful deanonymization,” he said.

One of the most popular Russian news sites, Lenta, reports that the arrest was the result of a “special operation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to stop the criminal activities of a group of Internet fraudsters who were engaged in extortion and blackmail of high-ranking officials and top managers.” large Russian companies”.

The Russian press writes that the detention was carried out by employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs together with the FSB, the Investigative Committee of Russia, the Prosecutor General’s Office and with the strong support of the National Guard.

It is also interesting that Lenta notes that the investigation was initiated following a complaint from one of the Russian defense conglomerates, Rostec. The news site also mentions that administrators of other Telegram channels with a total of two million subscribers were also arrested in August and September.

Who is Evgeny Prigozhin, “Putin’s cook”

Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because of the catering companies that serve the Kremlin, is considered one of the closest associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For many years, many Western countries and independent Russian media have accused Prigozhin of being the shadow financier of Wagner’s mercenary group, whose fighters were seen mainly in Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic before the war in Ukraine. February 24.

The Kremlin has consistently denied any ties to Wagner’s group, which is considered Putin’s private army.

But in recent months, Wagner’s group has come under the spotlight in Kremlin-controlled media after the mercenaries began playing a key role in a “special military operation” ordered by Vladimir Putin.

Russian investigative websites, which work abroad to circumvent Moscow’s strict censorship, have reported since August that Prigozhin began personally visiting prisons in Russia to recruit criminals and criminals.

“Wagner’s” mercenaries began recruiting for the war in Ukraine in countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as early as the end of July. In its assessment of the conflict in Ukraine, published on September 15, the Institute for the Study of War said that Yevgeny Prigozhin is the new head of “special military operations” given his growing popularity in military operations.

On September 26, Prigozhin admitted for the first time that he was the founder of Wagner’s mercenary group, saying that he had created a paramilitary group in order to send qualified fighters to the Donbas of Ukraine in 2014.

Prigozhin fell under the first package of sanctions announced by the EU on February 23 in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

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