Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner’s mercenary group, which is considered to be Vladimir Putin’s private army, has the same political influence in the Kremlin as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. before the British parliamentary group, reports The Guardian.
Mykhailo Khodorkovsky told the Foreign Affairs Committee that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman who finally admitted in September 2022 after much speculation that he founded the Wagner group, has the same access to Putin as official government officials.
The Russian dissident claims that after the recent appointment of General Serhiy Surovikin as the head of the military operation in Ukraine, there is “Putin’s cook” and that he worked with him in Ukraine.
According to Khodorkovsky, the Wagner Group’s popularity in Russia had grown in recent months because it could argue that it was an alternative to a wider mobilization.
At the same time, he added that the Wagner Group, numbering only about 7,000 people, will not be blamed in case of failure of military operations in Ukraine, since the Russian forces number 150-200,000 people.
Who will pay for the failure in Ukraine
The blame will be taken by Yuriy Kovalchuk, Putin’s banker, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the men believed to have most pressured Putin to launch the invasion and who predicted that Kyiv could be conquered in three days.
Khodorkovsky accused Putin of using mercenaries from the Wagner Group, who often recruit people from prisons, because it allowed him to lie, deny responsibility and pursue an illegal foreign policy.
Resuming troop recruitment would be a very dangerous political decision for Putin, Khodorkovsky said, adding that resistance to the mobilization forced him to prematurely end the process.
A blow to the defense industry
He claimed that 700,000 people left Russia after the mobilization and said it was “a serious blow to Putin’s defense industry and the Russian economy”.
Among the Russians who left the country, there are many IT specialists and engineers needed for the production of high-precision weapons.
Source: Hot News RU
James Springer is a renowned author and opinion writer, known for his bold and thought-provoking articles on a wide range of topics. He currently works as a writer at 247 news reel, where he uses his unique voice and sharp wit to offer fresh perspectives on current events. His articles are widely read and shared and has earned him a reputation as a talented and insightful writer.