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Is the Russian Military In a ‘Mini’ Civil War?

While Ukraine’s elite units are probing the Russian frontlines for weak spots to take advantage of, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the infamous Wagner Group private military company continue their months-long feud. 

T-90M. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
T-90M Tank from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The Ukrainian military has finally started its large-scale counteroffensive, but the Russian forces remain as divided as ever. 

While Ukraine’s elite units are probing the Russian frontlines for weak spots to take advantage of, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the infamous Wagner Group private military company continue their months-long feud. 

The Feud Goes On 

The Russian Ministry of Defense and the Wagner Group private military company have had an open feud going on for more than six months.

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has attacked Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov several times over their lack of support. 

Although the feud between the two parties looked like it was over after the Wagner Group captured Bakhmut and pulled out its forces from the town, it has now reached unprecedented levels at the most inopportune time for the Russian forces. 

“For the first time, Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed that the army has employed deliberate, lethal force against Wagner units. Following an altercation, Wagner has likely detained a Russian army brigade commander,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in its latest estimate of the war. 

The Russian forces are only losing from this infighting at a point in the war in which the Ukrainians are throwing everything they have against them. 

“Most of Wagner’s forces have now been withdrawn from Bakhmut. With Russia short of reserve units, the degree to which Wagner remains responsive to the MoD will be a key factor in the conflict over the coming weeks,” the British Military Intelligence added. 

Wagner Group in Ukraine 

Before the war in Ukraine, the Wagner Group mercenaries acted as the Kremlin’s private paramilitary arm. Prigozhin has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has benefited from the patronage of the Russian leader. 

In 2014, Wanger Group mercenaries joined Russian special forces and invaded the Crimean Peninsula in a lighting operation. After that first blood, Wagner Group deployed in several countries around the world at the Kremlin’s bidding. Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Mozambique, Mali, and the Central African Republic are some of the places the Kremlin deployed its mercenaries to do its bidding. Wherever the Wagner Group mercenaries have shown up, they have left behind them a trail of barbarity and war crimes. 

In November, after the Russian military struggled for months to achieve anything meaningful on the ground in Ukraine, Putin gave Prigozhin the green light to undertake a bigger role in the fighting. The Wagner Group leader deployed his mercenaries to the Bakhmut sector in the Donbas. Soon, the private military company, which had been strengthened by an influx of tens of thousands of convicts recruited from prisons, took the main role in the battle for Bakhmut. In May, the Wagner Group finally managed to capture the town after losing tens of thousands of mercenaries killed, wounded, and captured.

With the Ukrainian counteroffensive pushing hard the Russian military, it remains to be seen whether Putin will once more turn to his trusted mercenary for help. 

A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business InsiderSandboxx, and SOFREP.

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1945’s Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist with specialized expertise in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

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