{"id":551670,"date":"2023-02-14T13:33:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T10:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/kremlin-moves-to-rein-in-russian-mercenary-boss-prigozhin\/"},"modified":"2023-02-14T13:33:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T10:33:33","slug":"kremlin-moves-to-rein-in-russian-mercenary-boss-prigozhin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/kremlin-moves-to-rein-in-russian-mercenary-boss-prigozhin\/","title":{"rendered":"#Kremlin moves to rein in Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4ec79dc71cf\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4ec79dc71cf\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/kremlin-moves-to-rein-in-russian-mercenary-boss-prigozhin\/#Kremlin_moves_to_rein_in_Russian_mercenary_boss_Prigozhin\" >Kremlin moves to rein in Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Kremlin_moves_to_rein_in_Russian_mercenary_boss_Prigozhin\"><\/span>Kremlin moves to rein in Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div style=\"\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container noheight\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img has-preview\" alt=\"Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, the millionaire owner of the Wagner Group private military company, is pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2010. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/u8U.KJgA1pdjKBTOHBC7nQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-02\/fae6c6b0-ac51-11ed-bfe5-b2f87f7bd2bd\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, the millionaire owner of the Wagner Group private military company, is pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2010. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; His private army is pushing hard to give Russia a battlefield win in Ukraine, but mounting evidence suggests the Kremlin has moved to curb what it sees as the excessive political clout of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia&#8217;s Wagner mercenary group.<\/p>\n<p>Prigozhin, a 61-year-old ex-convict, has grabbed headlines in recent months over his bloody role in Ukraine and is sometimes portrayed in the West as a real-life James Bond villain.<\/p>\n<p>Shaven-headed and fond of coarse language, he has made a splash in Russian-language <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> too where he has revelled in being sanctioned by the West, publicly insulted Russia&#8217;s top military brass, tried to parlay battlefield success into Kremlin favour, and detailed his recruitment of tens of thousands of convicts for his private army.<\/p>\n<p>His profile became so prominent that allies and analysts began speculating he was angling for an official job or career in politics.<\/p>\n<p>There is growing evidence now though that the Kremlin has moved to nip such speculation in the bud, ordering Prigozhin to halt his public criticism of the defence ministry while advising state media to stop mentioning him or Wagner by name.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 467px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:58%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: FBI wanted poster of Yevgeniy Prigozhin\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/CW3F_pqVivWlk9sp79ICZg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD03MjU-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/542c232bdb863bcb33b52a03cbe0e9e5\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: FBI wanted poster of Yevgeniy Prigozhin\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/CW3F_pqVivWlk9sp79ICZg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD03MjU-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/542c232bdb863bcb33b52a03cbe0e9e5\" class=\"caas-img\"><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">FILE PHOTO: FBI wanted poster of Yevgeniy Prigozhin<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Prigozhin confirmed last week he had also been s<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>ped of the right to recruit convicts from prisons &#8211; a key pillar of his nascent political influence and one which has helped his forces make small but steady gains in eastern Ukraine where they <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ear to be inching closer to capturing the city of Bakhmut.<\/p>\n<p>Olga Romanova, director of a prisoner rights group, said the Ministry of Defence had taken over convict recruitment earlier this year. The ministry has not confirmed that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The position of the (Kremlin) political bloc is not to let him into politics. They are a little afraid of him and find him an inconvenient person,&#8221; Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser who remains close to the authorities, told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Tatiana Stanovaya, a veteran Kremlin scholar, wrote in a paper for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that, while Prigozhin&#8217;s downfall did not appear imminent, his ties with the presidential administration were starting to crack.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The domestic policy overseers don&#8217;t like his political demagogy, his attacks on official institutions, or his attempts to troll Putin&#8217;s staff by threatening to form a political party, which would be a headache for everyone in the Kremlin,&#8221; she wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 530px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:66%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: Wagner private military group centre opens in St Petersburg\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/jTeUW5BjtHCVGMAAacrlGQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04MjM-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/76d8be524aab50595bebf06ba2a103c5\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO: Wagner private military group centre opens in St Petersburg\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/jTeUW5BjtHCVGMAAacrlGQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04MjM-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/76d8be524aab50595bebf06ba2a103c5\" class=\"caas-img\"><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">The Wagner private military group centre in St Petersburg. (Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;He hasn&#8217;t just become a public figure; he is visibly transforming into a full-fledged politician with his own views.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to Markov, the Kremlin has got a promise from Prigozhin that he would not create his own political movement or join a parliamentary party unless asked to do so by the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(The message) is we will give you military resources, but do not get involved in politics for now,&#8221; said Markov.<\/p>\n<p>Prigozhin told a Russian interviewer on Friday that he had &#8220;zero&#8221; political ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>Markov, who described Prigozhin as extremely confrontational, said he believed Putin had told Prigozhin to halt public criticism of the top brass at a St Petersburg meeting around Jan. 14.<\/p>\n<p>Markov said he did not know full details of who said what at the meeting and Reuters was not able to confirm the accuracy of his assertion.<\/p>\n<p>Prigozhin has since moderated his criticism and made a point on Friday in a rare interview of looking into the camera to say he wasn&#8217;t criticising anyone.<\/p>\n<p>The St Petersburg meeting, which did not appear on the Kremlin website, was confirmed by at least one other attendee who posted about it on social media. The Kremlin says it does not comment on private meetings.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 570px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader\" style=\"padding-bottom:71%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"Evgeny Prigozhin assists Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a dinner with foreign scholars and journalists at the restaurant Cheval Blanc on the premises of an equestrian complex outside Moscow. (Reuters)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Xpsk0KtAUMtKEGkFGEfaJA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04ODU-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/dfdefc3f5a4e9eacc7403f9be15ddad6\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Evgeny Prigozhin assists Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a dinner with foreign scholars and journalists at the restaurant Cheval Blanc on the premises of an equestrian complex outside Moscow. (Reuters)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Xpsk0KtAUMtKEGkFGEfaJA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04ODU-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/dfdefc3f5a4e9eacc7403f9be15ddad6\" class=\"caas-img\"><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Evgeny Prigozhin assists Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a dinner with foreign scholars and journalists at the restaurant Cheval Blanc on the premises of an equestrian complex outside Moscow. (Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Kremlin did not immediately reply to a request for comment about whether and why it had reined in Prigozhin, but on Saturday, Grey Zone, an influential social media channel associated with Wagner, published what looked like a leaked guidance document for state media from the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<p>It advised recipients to stop mentioning Prigozhin or Wagner and suggested generic phrases to describe his forces instead.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters could not verify the document and state media are not allowed to share such guidance notes.<\/p>\n<p>Prigozhin, in comments on Monday, said it looked like Russian media mentions of Wagner had fallen recently, something he blamed on unnamed &#8220;losers&#8221; trying to damage his group.<\/p>\n<p>Markov, who has written about Prigozhin a lot in a mostly positive light, said he was among those to have been requested not to promote the mercenary leader.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They underlined that &#8216;we don&#8217;t ban you but it&#8217;s better not to do it&#8217;,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dmitri Alperovitch, the Russian-born chairman of U.S. think-tank Silverado Policy Accelerator, said he felt Prigozhin&#8217;s room for manoeuvre was shrinking.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-pull-quote-wrapper caas-img caas-lazy\" data-src=\"\">\n<blockquote class=\"caas-blockquote caas-pull-quote\"><p><span class=\"quotemark icon\"><svg width=\"31\" height=\"22\" viewbox=\"0 0 20 14\"><path d=\"M15.5222734,14 C18.5215054,14 20,12.4159021 20,9.76146789 C20,7.23547401 18.7327189,5.90825688 16.3248848,5.73700306 C16.8740399,3.93883792 17.8456221,2.01223242 18.9016897,0.29969419 L18.9016897,0 L14.3394777,0 C12.6075269,2.6116208 10.8333333,6.03669725 10.8333333,9.03363914 C10.8333333,12.2446483 12.3963134,14 15.5222734,14 Z M4.70948012,14 C7.6529052,14 9.16666667,12.4159021 9.16666667,9.76146789 C9.16666667,7.23547401 7.82110092,5.86544343 5.46636086,5.73700306 C6.01299694,3.93883792 6.98012232,2.01223242 8.0733945,0.29969419 L8.0733945,0 L3.53211009,0 C1.80810398,2.6116208 0,6.03669725 0,9.03363914 C0,12.2446483 1.5558104,14 4.70948012,14 Z\" transform=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"quote\">Prigozhin&#8217;s star has dimmed. He had overreached in his criticism of the military and other elites. Now his wings are getting clipped.<\/span><span class=\"attribution\">Dmitri Alperovitch<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Prigozhin&#8217;s star has dimmed. He had overreached in his criticism of the military and other elites,&#8221; Alperovitch wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Now his wings are getting clipped.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After years of denials, Prigozhin stepped out of the shadows in September to admit he had founded Wagner in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>By then, Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine, something Moscow calls a special military operation, had gone badly wrong for the top brass, with a chaotic retreat from Kyiv followed by a rout in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, and an impending forced retreat from the southern city of Kherson.<\/p>\n<p>The wealthy catering tycoon quickly put himself at the heart of a frenzied public relations campaign and, through social media, state TV and feature films, promoted his private army as an elite fighting force who could work military alchemy.<\/p>\n<p>He cast himself as a ruthlessly efficient patriotic operator and Russia&#8217;s top brass as incompetent and out-of-touch.<\/p>\n<p>Prigozhin, whose mercenaries are active in Africa and the Middle East, suggested last week that he and his men could one day disappear as fast as they appeared, something his many enemies may doubt.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When we are no longer needed, we will pack up and go back to Africa,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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(Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo) LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; His private army is pushing hard to give Russia a battlefield win in Ukraine, but mounting evidence&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":551671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/reuters.com\/dfdefc3f5a4e9eacc7403f9be15ddad6","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-551670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}