Wagner’s group, led by businessman Yevhen Prigozhin, known in the past as “Putin’s cook”, is waging a power struggle with the Russian Defense Ministry, citing problems with military strategy and a lack of military equipment during the war in Ukraine. Cadena Ser, quoted by Rador.

According to British intelligence, the Kremlin wants to promote the creation of new private paramilitary companies to replace the Wagner group due to a power struggle between the mercenary company and the Russian Ministry of Defense.

For Putin’s inner circle, the government is keeping less and less control over the Wagner organization, which plays a “significant” role in the war in Ukraine, and is trying to create a series of alternative military companies to replace Wagner at the top. takes part in hostilities in Ukraine, claims British intelligence.

Despite its intentions, Britain notes that there is currently no private military company of the size or combat capabilities of Wagner’s group, and that Moscow wants to rely on private mercenaries as a way to pay its soldiers. less and overcome the ineffectiveness of regular army units in combat.

In addition, the Kremlin believes that high losses in the ranks of private companies devoted to war will be more easily accepted by Russian society than high losses in the official Russian army.

The “Wagner Group”, the most important group of mercenaries in Russia, is now a full-fledged army, which in terms of numbers is equal to the military personnel of Hungary or Slovakia, the spokesman of the Eastern Military Command of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevaty, told Channel 24 “Kyiv”. Independent reports.

In recent months, the “Wagner Group” has been trying to capture the city of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk region with the support of the Russian regular army.

At the end of March, General Mark Milley said that about 6,000 mercenaries of Wagner’s group were fighting in the city of Bakhmut.

“They are currently engaged in combat operations, mainly in Bakhmut,” Milley told the House Armed Services Committee alongside US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“It’s probably about 6,000 mercenaries and maybe another 20,000 or 30,000 recruits that they get, a lot of them from prisons.

Ukrainians are causing a lot of death and destruction to these people,” Milli said. Serhii Tserevatii said Ukrainian forces killed 121 and wounded 139 Russian soldiers in Bakhmut on April 1, when Russian forces shelled the town 232 times.

Since the Wagner Group stopped recruiting prisoners from Russia in early February, regular Russian Airborne Forces and motorized infantry have been deployed in the Bakhmut area, the military said.

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