The owner of the Wagner Group turned against himself "Petersburg friends" dictator, the FSB, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Putin Administration.
Russian oligarch and owner of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin is increasingly in conflict with the Russian elites. And now not only from the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Russian Federation, but even with officials of the Presidential Administration and Putin's “old friends” from St. Petersburg.
The Russian publication Important Stories writes about this.
” Friends of Putin”
According to the publication, Prigozhin's relationship with Putin's old friends, and in particular with the main owner of the St. Petersburg bank Rossiya, Yuri Kovalchuk, who is part of the dictator's inner circle, has become more complicated.
“From the time he worked in St. Petersburg, Putin has lived in two worlds. One world is a circle of decent people, that same Ozero dacha cooperative that unites colleagues, colleagues and associates of Putin (which includes Kovalchuk). And the other world is former criminals or people connected in one way or another with crime,” says a source close to Putin’s entourage.
It is noted that Putin talked with criminals and his old friends. However, the latter did not allow people from the criminal world to rise too much in the hierarchy.
“Those of them who mentioned acquaintance with the president and tried to use it ended up either in the cemetery, like guard Roman Tsepov, or in prison, like the leader of the Tambov group Vladimir Kumarin,” the source says.
However, the war in Ukraine destroyed the established way of things. Putin needs Prigozhin, so he decided to take advantage of this and influence political processes. “Putin's friends” can't do anything about it yet – the owner of the Wagner CV is now very valuable to the dictator.
Russian Presidential Administration
Prigozhin “beat the pots” with the influential Sergei Kiriyenko – first deputy head of the presidential administration, who is called the new “curator” of the occupied territories.
Kiriyenko is concerned that Prigozhin, who has personal access to Putin, could undermine the “monopoly” of the Deputy Presidential Administration for control over the occupied territories.
The administration does not like that the oligarch allows himself public criticism of some governors, in particular – Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov.
“Prigozhin as an independent player with his closeness to the president and media resources is causing concern for the administration, since it cannot control either him or his media,” the article says.< /p>
Ministry of Defense and General Staff
Prigozhin's conflict with Minister of Defense Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov is probably the most public.
In particular, Prigozhin supported the scandalous leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.
So, in one of the last conflicts, the “Wagnerites” recorded a video message, swearing at Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov: “Chief of the General Staff! You are a f*ck. We have no shells.”
FSB
The publication claims that the FSB is dissatisfied with Prigozhin's activity in prison colonies where he recruits convicts.
“Sending armed convicts to war in Ukraine, bandits and murderers, with radical recommendations to “kill”, “torture” and “at least cut the throat” is not the approach that suits FSB,” the article says.
It is noted that the FSB is afraid of responsibility for the consequences of the return of even part of the “Wagnerites” to the Russian Federation.
Earlier, Prigozhin compared the “forecasts” of the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Russia Dmitry Medvedev for 2023 with “erotic fantasies”.
