Mercenary leader Wagner said on Sunday that he believed senior Kremlin officials had banned state media from reporting on him, warning that such a misleading approach would lead to a backlash from the Russian people within months, Reuters reported.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner’s mercenary group, is the most prominent member of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, who rose to prominence during the 15-month war in Ukraine.

Prigozhin, who joked last week that his nickname should be “Putin’s butcher” rather than “Putin’s cook,” claimed to have captured the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut earlier this month, but state television played down his role in the victory.

Prigozhin, 61, made a name for himself by imposing brutal discipline on his mercenaries and using profanity and prison slang to insult Putin’s top military leadership, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

In a sign of how much Prigozhin is believed to have broken the taboo of Putin’s Russia, state television ignored Bakhmut’s fall for 20 hours and did not broadcast Prigozhin’s victory speech.

An order, apparently signed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, is circulating in Russian Telegram channels, which prohibits state media from reporting on Pigozhin and the group founded by the Russian oligarch.

“Forbidden is always sweeter”

When asked about the alleged ban on state media, Prigozhin used a number of Russian proverbs to mock those responsible: “Forbidden is always sweeter.”

“Wagner is not the slimy soap that bureaucrats used to spread everywhere; Wagner is a spear, a dagger that cannot be hidden,” Prigozhin said.

“I’m absolutely convinced they banned (the story).”

“The fact that the higher bureaucracy, even those towers of the Kremlin, are trying to make everyone shut up about Wagner will only incite people.”

According to him, such an approach will provoke a reaction from the Russian people.

“In the long term – long term – two or three months – they will receive a slap from the people for trying to close everyone’s mouth and ears,” Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin violates the rules of the Kremlin-controlled system

The Kremlin and the Defense Ministry have ignored Prigozhin’s outings, which appear to break the rules of the tightly controlled political system put in place by Putin after he took control of the Kremlin on the last day of 1999.

The Kremlin, which did not respond to a request for comment, says all the goals of the “special military operation” in Ukraine will be achieved, despite the fact that the West is waging a proxy war against it.

After Prigozhin declared victory over Bakhmut, the Kremlin took 10 hours to release a 36-word statement congratulating Wagner and the armed forces on the “liberation” of Artemivsk, Bakhmut’s Soviet name in Russia. later, state television did not mention the name of the group’s founder, Wagner.

Prigozhin claims that 72,000 Russian soldiers died at Bakhmut

In Sunday’s audio address, Prigozhin noted that 72,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in the “meat grinder” near Bakhmut, and approximately 100,000 to 140,000 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded.

Reuters says it was unable to verify data from both sides on the battlefield.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia has released a death toll, but Kyiv has said Russian casualties in Bakhmut were heavy because it was the attacking side.

Kyiv insists its forces still control a small part of the city.

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