Wagner founder urges Putin to end ‘special military operation’

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has urged the Russian leader to end his ongoing “private military operation” in Ukraine and instead focus on strengthening his country’s hold on lands it has occupied in the eastern European country. .

“to [Russian] For the authorities and for society as a whole, today it is necessary to finally put an end to the private military operation. The ideal option is to announce the end of the special military operation, and to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned for, and in a sense, we have already achieved them.” Shared and translated by Ukrainian news outlet Pravda.

The Wagner Group is a Kremlin-backed private military company led by Prigozhin, which contributes to Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

Putin launched his war on Ukraine last February, widely referred to as a “special military operation,” confident that his country would score a quick victory over its eastern European neighbor. However, Ukraine responded with a stronger-than-expected defensive effort, backed and supported primarily by military aid from the West, which helped deter Russian military targets and limit their advance.

More than a year has passed since the invasion, and fighting is still concentrated in Ukraine’s far east, where analysts say Russia’s attempts to winterize it have largely failed.

However, Russian forces are receiving support from the Wagner Group, which last year recruited thousands of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine. And Prigozhin announced in March that more than 5,000 former prisoners had been released since last summer, after fulfilling their contracts with the group, according to the Meduza website. Meanwhile, more than 50,000 prisoners were recruited by the Wagner Group during the winter of 2022, according to Russia Behind Bars, a human rights nonprofit.

“We have stopped a large number of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and we can report ourselves that our mission is completed,” Prigozhin wrote on his blog on Friday.

He also wrote that “in theory, Russia has already achieved this decisive end by eliminating a large part of the active male population in Ukraine and intimidating another part of it that has fled to Europe.”

“Now there is only one thing left: to firmly gain a foothold, a paw in those lands that really exist. But there is a trick – if earlier Ukraine was part of the former Russia, now it is a country of an absolutely national orientation, ”Prigozhin added. “If, before February 24, 2022, the European Union was greedy to give Ukraine tens of millions of dollars, now tens of billions of dollars have been cut off for the war.”

The Wagner Group commander also highlighted the importance of Bakhmut, which is located in the Donetsk region of Ukraine and has been the site of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, and its benefits to the Russian military.

“… The long battle for Bakhmut is very beneficial for the Russian troops, because they have already captured a large piece of Ukrainian territory in 2022. If the special operation remains within these borders, plus or minus a few tens of kilometers, then this will solve many NWO tasks [National World Order]. “Bakhmut allows the Russian army to build up its strength, take advantage of advantageous lines of defense, deal with internal problems, and prepare recruits and fully armed men to counter any number of pilots who launch a counterattack,” Prigozhin wrote.

He explained Bakhmut’s importance to Russia, saying that “Bakhmut is very useful to us, we are grinding the Ukrainian army there and curbing its maneuvers.”

The “New World Order” is a phrase that usually promotes important geopolitical changes, but is also used to promote a conspiracy theory that states that there is a secret globalist authority that rules the world under a totalitarian regime, with one of them being. It aims to focus on stripping states of their sovereignty.

Earlier this month, Prigozhin contradicted a statement he made earlier about a Russian victory at Bakhmut shortly after his claims were rejected by the Ukrainian military.

He said that Bakhmut was “taken by law” and that Ukrainian forces were “concentrated in the western area” of the city. Prigozhin later said through his Telegram press service that “the enemy (Ukraine) is not going anywhere.” [from Bakhmut]. “

“They organized the defense inside the city first by rail and then in the high-rise buildings area in the western district of the city,” he said, adding, “At the moment, I think there is no talk of any attack.”

Newsweek I have reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.