Prigozhin mocks the invasion of Ukraine as a ‘racket’ to enrich the Russian elite

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the outspoken Russian mercenary magnate, described Friday’s invasion of his country in Ukraine as a “racket” perpetrated by a corrupt elite chasing money and glory without concern for Russian lives.

While Mr Prigozhin, who heads the private Wagner force that has fought alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, has been devastating to Russia’s military leadership for months, the 30-minute video monologue he released on Friday took his criticism to a new level.

He did not explicitly challenge President Vladimir V. Putin, instead casting him as a leader who was misled by his officials. But in rejecting the Kremlin’s narrative that the invasion was an existential necessity for the Russian nation, Mr. Prigozhin went further than anyone else in the Russian security organization by publicly challenging the wisdom of war.

“The war was not necessary to return Russian citizens to our bosom, nor to demilitarize or denazify Ukraine,” Prigozhin said, referring to Putin’s initial justifications for the war. “The war was necessary so that a bunch of animals could just shout in glory.”

Friday’s diatribe deepened the conundrum of Mr Prigozhin’s ambiguous role in Mr Putin’s system. His Wagner forces, made up of experienced combatants and thousands of convicts whom Mr Prigozhin personally recruited from Russian prisons, proved key in May’s capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after months of fighting.

But during the battle for Bakhmut, Mr. Prigozhin also emerged as a populist political figure, berating Russian military leaders for corruption and for not supplying his troops with sufficient ammunition. His angry recordings and videos posted on the Telegram messaging network exposed senior military and Kremlin officials as ignorant and indifferent to the struggles of regular Russian soldiers.

Mr. Putin has failed to restrain Mr. Prigozhin, even as his security forces have imprisoned or fined thousands of Russians for criticizing the military or opposing the war. Some people who know Mr Putin have said they believe the president still sees Mr Prigozhin as a loyal servant who puts the necessary pressure on a sprawling military apparatus. Others theorize that the Kremlin orchestrated Mr. Prigozhin’s tirades against Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister, to deflect blame from Mr. Putin himself.

But Friday’s video complicated the picture, with Prigozhin going after not only Shoigu, but nameless “oligarchs” around Putin, while portraying the entire official rhetoric surrounding the invasion as a sham. He said there was “nothing abnormal” about Ukraine’s military stance on the eve of the February 2022 invasion – challenging the Kremlin’s justification that Ukraine was about to take over Russian-backed separatist territory in the east of the country. attack country.

“Our holy war with those who insult the Russian people, with those who try to humiliate them, has turned into a riot,” he said.

The comments come as Russia fights to hold back Ukraine’s counter-offensive – a fight Mr Prigozhin claimed in his video went far worse for Russia than the government let on. On Telegram, pro-war commentators have been quick to oppose Mr Prigozhin, including Igor Girkin, a former paramilitary commander who has himself often criticized Russia’s leadership.

“Prigozhin should have already been handed over to a military court for many things,” Mr Girkin said wrote. “Now also for treason.”