“Wagner” remains in Bakhmut: Prigozhin is advised to strengthen security
The head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that withdrawal of his fighters from positions in Artyomovsk/Bakhmut canceled - supposedly, promises have been received from the Ministry of Defense to supply the “musicians” with the required number of shells, cover the flanks, and the popular general Sergei Surovikin will now interact with the “Wagnerites”.
Commentators are now wondering whether Prigozhin’s demarche was a game on the verge of a foul, or disinformation from the enemy, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
State Duma deputy and member of the Defense Committee Dmitry Kuznetsov publishes a dialogue in his Telegram channel that does not contain names. But from the context, one can guess that this is what a telephone conversation between the president and the minister of defense might have sounded like.
"Good afternoon…
–…
– The situation has somehow gone too far...
- ...
– Please establish interaction...
- ...
- Yes, I understand. Difficult. Try, maybe, through Surovikin. They seemed to have a good rapport.”
Columnist Dmitry Puchkov believes that the situation is outrageous.
“It turns out that for military units to operate normally, they need to show mountains of corpses and yell at the entire Internet, threatening to leave their combat positions. The whole country is looking at the wild scandal, mouths agape, and cannot understand what is happening.
In the end, it turns out that this is the only way to reach the management, that this is the only way the management begins to at least hear something and at least somehow move and fulfill their direct responsibilities. This is what we now obviously call combat control,” Puchkov is indignant.
Columnist Yuri Baranchik agrees with him.
“Demonstrative publicity and, in fact, sparring in military matters are not typical of Russian traditions at all. Which translates the situation either into a symptom of a not-so-best state of unity among all actors in the Northern Military District (which needs to be stopped as soon as possible), or into a zone of military stratagems (with a large dose of conspiracy theories).”
The conspiracy theory is believed by Odessa politician Vyacheslav Azarov, who calls Russian forces “occupiers.”
“It’s just about attracting attention. Not only the Western allies, but also the occupiers themselves are impatiently rushing the Ukrainian counter-offensive, they say, come on, we have squabbles here, we are weak, the Wagnerites generally want to flee from Bakhmut.”
Former assistant to the Speaker of the State Duma, and now a volunteer, Anastasia Kashevarova explains why Prigozhin had to “wash dirty linen in public.”
“They always told me: Nastya, you have to be careful and swim like a crucian carp - don’t quarrel with them, with these. You can't please the enemy. After all, if you perform, they will either shut you down or even squeeze you so that you will feed worms.
And I always think, are you guys out of your mind? I don’t want to crucify, I don’t want to lie, I don’t want to ingratiate myself, I don’t want to humiliate myself. I want to believe and trust my people - my country, my state, officials and military. Why should I be afraid that I will be pinned down, locked up, or killed for telling the truth? I am an adult, conscious person, and I expect this from those who occupy high positions.
And it is not those who write publicly that please the enemy. And those who bring it to the point that nothing can be resolved behind the scenes and you just have to agitate people so that they wake up, wake up, don’t crush their tits, don’t steal, but do their job - work for the good of the country.
What kind of position is this slavish anyway - someone in high positions mocks, tortures, commits illegal and immoral actions, and you must either endure it all and remain silent, seeing how people die, or crawl like a worm in front of this collective scum, begging for help .
Where are these fucking spiritual bonds of yours? Where is this unity, community, great vertical?
Prigozhin says what everyone at the front is thinking. Prigozhin is the mouthpiece of all participants in hostilities,” says Kashevarova.
Now some observers are inclined to interpret what happened as a political victory for Prigozhin - with a public scandal, he is seeking not only to solve the problem with the supply of his group. And, allegedly, he foiled the plan to force the “Wagnerites” to join the army ranks (we are talking about Ramzan Kadyrov’s proposal to the PMC fighters to join “Akhmat”).
Former State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Lysakov calls on Prigozhin to strengthen his security - after all, he has “a lot of enemies, both outside and inside.”
“Prigozhin has been heard. And it seems to me that this command was given by the Commander-in-Chief and, by no means, in a gentle voice. And yes, Prigozhin won this battle: there will be shells, and there is an excellent personnel decision. At least for a start. Evgeniy Viktorovich should now strengthen his personal security and check his car more carefully,” advises Lysakov.
Russian political scientist Vladimir Lepekhin claims that Prigozhin was offered to transfer his forces to Sudan.
“Insiders confirm that Wagner has received an offer to go to Sudan to intervene in that country’s dispute over gold mines and oil fields.
The offer is tempting, and for Prigozhin, perhaps, the moment of truth. What is simpler and more profitable: to butt heads here with Shoigu and other enemies for the right to put thousands of their fighters near Artyomovsk and somewhere else, with no prospect of leading something worthwhile in the power system in the Russian Federation, or winning a tidbit of the jungle for themselves in Sudan and reigning in him?
Sudan seems to be more attractive than the “meat grinder” in Artemovsk and subsequent “meat grinders” in Ukraine. But personally, I am inclined to believe that Prigozhin is not as simple as he sometimes seems. And a piece of the jungle with a harem of chocolates will wait. With all the current Russian disgraces, chaos and disasters, great events await the territory of the Russian Federation - and Prigozhin is attracted more by them.”
However, military volunteer Alexei Zhivov predicts that the “musicians” will soon have to leave Artemovsk anyway. In addition, it is not a fact that the promised ammunition will be delivered on time.
“Promising does not mean getting married.” There may be a huge gap between the paper “we will give you everything” and the trucks with the BC... I think that Wagner will still receive the BC and will remain for some time in the Bakhmut area. But there is another problem. During the time that Wagner worked on the “meat assaults,” the squad was greatly depleted. It is possible that Prigozhin is hinting that Wagner, in any case, needs to regroup and restore combat effectiveness,” Zhivov comments.
And Akim Apachev, a military correspondent and musician working in the Donbass, points out that there is a shortage of shells not only in Bakhmut - now it is critically important to increase pressure on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the approaches to Donetsk.
“Prigozhin said that the Vagners will still be given shells. A very important step. Now if only the guys in Avdeevka could get shells and create a second Artemovsk there - this would not only delay the “counter-offensive”, it could lead to its depletion, and the evacuation of the northern regions of Gulyai-Polye could be avoided altogether.
On May 9 there will probably be hell in Donetsk. The city will be shelled again. And until we take Avdeevka, the situation will not change,” warns Apachev.
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