How Prigozhin Turned on Putin

The mercenary group chief has been loudly blasting Russia's military leadership-and his old friend and sponsor. He may finally have gone too far

- ISABEL VAN BRUGEN

RUSSIAN TYCOON YEVGENY PRIgozhin's relationship with his longtime ally President Vladimir Putin appears to have reached a breaking point, with the one-time caterer resorting to publishing expletive-ridden videos on social media to get his voice heard amid the war in Ukraine.

Prigozhin, who earned the nickname "Putin's chef" thanks to his catering contracts with the Kremlin, heads the notorious paramilitary outfit the Wagner Group. He has been pouring his fighters for months into the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine alongside conventional troops as part of a push by Moscow to secure its first major battlefield victory since the summer of 2022. He was viewed by the Kremlin as a key instrument in the war.

But cracks began to show in the businessman's relationship with the Kremlin when he displayed an appetite for politics, launching attacks on Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. These strains grew exponentially when Prigozhin threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut over a lack of ammunition.

A furious Prigozhin directly addressed Putin in his appeal for more munitions on May 5, hours after publishing an expletive-ridden clip standing in front of rows of what he claimed were his fighters killed in battle in Bakhmut. He had previously aimed his attacks only at Shoigu and Gerasimov, blaming them and their failure to provide more ammunition for the deaths of his fighters.

Days later, on May 9, Victory DayMoscow's annual celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II-Prigozhin again complained about a lack of ammunition, publishing videos shortly before and immediately after Putin's speech in Moscow's Red Square. Prigozhin suggested that his fighters still lacked ammunition and that they had been threatened with state treason for desertion if they tried to retreat.