Officials said his criticisms of Prigozhin, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, echoed what he had said publicly for weeks. But the revelation that he felt comfortable being so harshly rebuked for Russian military efforts in a private setting with Putin illustrates how Moscow’s influence has grown as the war falters. It also highlights the shaky stance of the official leadership of the Russian defense agency, which came under fire from Prigozhin and others after months of battlefield mistakes and losses.
The Washington Post previously reported that a Russian insider personally confronted Putin to highlight the mismanagement of the war effort, but did not name the person. The Post reported that the change was deemed significant enough to be included in the daily intelligence briefing provided to President Biden.
Prigozhin’s frustration with the Russian Ministry of Defense and escalating tensions with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are also the subject of a separate US intelligence report circulating among officials in Washington, according to those who read the file.
Prigozhin worked for years in the shadow of Russian power, and Russia’s infamous Wagner mercenary group and St. Petersburg internet troll factory denied connections. He helped advance the Kremlin’s foreign goals outside of official structures and was a St. Petersburg restaurant and a catering company with lucrative Russian state and city contracts earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef”.
In recent weeks, however, Prigozhin has emerged with a dramatic start in Russian public life, first accepting the Wagner leadership and publicly attacking the Russian military leadership for its mistakes.
“The political position he has struck in public is this: I am Yevgeny Prigozhin. “I’m here to tell you the truth and I’ll get the job done.” Putin.
According to the US intelligence report circulating in Washington, Prigozhin expressed the view that the Russian Ministry of Defense had too much reliance on Wagner and did not give the mercenary group enough money and resources to fulfill its mission in the conflict. he said, read the report.
US intelligence officials believe Prigozhin posted a video on social media of Wagner soldiers complaining about the lack of basic food and supplies as a way to pressure the Kremlin to increase funding for the mercenary group.
“Prigozhin’s decision to confront Putin is only the last sign of his dissatisfaction,” said one person who read the report.
Prigozhin denied any recent personal contact with Putin in comments to the Washington Post via the press service late Monday.
“Firstly, I have not personally communicated with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, neither in the near future nor in the foreseeable future. I did not criticize the management of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the conflict in Ukraine. Therefore, I cannot comment on anything,” he said, adding that he has no right to criticize or praise the work of the Russian armed forces, as he is not a military expert.
He also said he had not seen a video of Wagner’s forces complaining about food and supplies.
Prighozin often harshly criticizes journalists who ask him questions, and from time to time tells Russian journalists to go to the front and fight against Ukraine. In addition to his denials, Prighozin published a rambling, sexist critique of US journalism and The Post, citing “market women collecting gossip and speculation in the kitchen” and complaining about “ridiculously provocative and offensive questions.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the interaction between Prigozhin and Putin.
Since the war began, Prigozhin has used Defense Minister Shoigu and top uniformed generals as pawns and positioned himself as an unrestrained leader who can show results on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Operating outside the official Russian military structure, a paramilitary group of war-hardened veterans accused of human rights abuses is conducting an offensive to take Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region controlled by Ukrainian forces. Some analysts see this as an attempt to show that its soldiers can make progress even when the rest of the Russian army is on their hind legs.
The result has been a marked revival of Putin’s status in his inner circle, which was reportedly endangered before the war by wrangling with top Russian officials.
“It’s been really rising in recent months,” said Marlene Laruelle, director of the George Washington University Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. “The war gave him more access to Putin than ever before.”
“The shadow aspect of the Russian state is becoming more and more visible,” Laruelle said, as figures such as Prigozhin and the Kremlin-appointed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov publicly voiced their criticism of the Russian military.
The interaction between Putin and Prigozhin was followed by a more brutal Russian approach to the war.
After repeated failures by the Russian military, which included losing more than 3,000 square miles of territory, Putin has for the first time chosen a general commander to lead the Ukrainian war effort. This month’s appointment filled a leadership vacuum that military analysts cited as a reason Moscow struggled with command and control of its forces.
In a statement posted by the catering company on Russian social media site VK, Prigozhin hailed Putin’s choice, describing the new general in charge, Sergey Surovikin, as a “legendary character” born to serve the Fatherland and “the most competent commander” in Russia. described. military. Surovikin earned the nickname “General Armageddon” in Syria after the Russian military became known for its indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets.
In Ukraine, Russia has turned to harsher tactics affecting civilians, especially after the humiliating bombing of the Crimean Bridge connecting Russia to Crimea in early October. Moscow has landed missiles in central Kiev for the first time in months, targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure with a limited supply of precision-guided munitions to cause disruptions. And to strike critical infrastructure and terrorize civilians, Iran has started using war drones.
Conservatives, including supporters of Prigozhin, have long urged the Kremlin to use more incendiary tactics against urban centers, regardless of their impact on Ukraine’s civilian population. Putin’s latest moves played to them.
“He still thinks he can win, so he’s throwing everything he can into the situation,” said Fiona Hill, a former White House official who deals with Russia and Eurasian issues. “We are in that period when he was trying to get us into the final version of the game. The man thinks he can handle it.”
Earlier this month, Prigozhin said in a statement posted on social media that the top commanders of the Russian military are not in touch with the situation in Ukraine. “I think we should send all these bastards to the front with barefoot machine guns,” he said.
It is unclear whether Prigozhin is primarily focused on gaining greater influence within the Russian defense establishment or whether he has greater political ambitions for himself or his relatives.
While public criticism of Putin was still taboo, Shoigu took the brunt of the conflict’s disillusionment and, according to one assessment, “has been pushed aside within the Russian leadership, with operations commanders briefing President Putin directly on the course of the war” in recent months. by the British Ministry of Defense in August
The ministry said Shoigu struggled to overcome his reputation “without having significant military experience, as he spent most of his career in the construction industry and the Ministry of Emergencies.”
Meanwhile, Prigozhin presents himself as a more extreme, unpolished alternative.
A video that began circulating on Russian social media in September showed Prigozhin recruiting potential fighters in a Russian prison. Prigozhin later responded to criticism of his prisoner recruitment efforts in a statement posted on VK by his own catering company.
“Those who do not want mercenaries or prisoners to fight … those who do not like this topic, send your children to the front,” said Prigozhin. “Either them or your children, decide for yourself.” About a week later, Putin ordered a mobilization, which the Russian Ministry of Defense said would have 300,000 reserves to replenish the depleted forces. The movement sent hundreds of thousands of eligible men fleeing Russia to avoid being called to war.
Before the war started to go badly for the Russian military, it was “not fit” for critics to get the attention. But “People like Prigozhin now see a chance to grab a brass ring,” said Hill, who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for the United States and Europe. “It shows that when people start pushing themselves forward like this, the system is really under stress.”
Prigozhin rose well above his humble roots as a hot dog vendor in Putin’s hometown of Leningrad. He served nine years in prison for theft and other crimes, then founded casinos and a floating restaurant, where he personally served Russia’s new president, Putin, and President George W. Bush. He later opened a catering company that won contracts with the Russian government. After years of denial, he publicly admitted in May 2014 that he had formed Wagner to support Russian-backed separatists in their effort to take control of Ukraine’s Donbas region.
The US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Prigozhin in March due to the Wagner Group’s involvement in the war. Prior to that, he was already sanctioned and blamed by the US for funding the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll factory that US intelligence agencies say was part of the Kremlin’s effort to interfere in the 2016 election. The United States said the group sought to spread “false narratives online” to undermine governments in the United States, Asia, Europe and elsewhere.
Laruelle said his years in prison and his difficult beginnings likely sparked resentment against the political elite and those who enjoyed privilege after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It helped his war ambition. “He wants political recognition,” he said. “Money is not enough. I think he really cares about having official status.”
The increasingly prominent public role of names like Prigozhin and Kadyrov in the war effort is troubling some Russian officials, who see them as rogue players playing by their own rules. “Having leaders like Prigozhin and Kadyrov – they [the establishment] I can’t live with that anymore,” one Russian official said in an interview. “This is not Russia. This is a criminal fraternity based on medieval principles.”
Greg Miller, Robyn Dixon, Mary Ilyushina, and Catherine Belton contributed to this report.
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