Wagner chief warns Kremlin, says blanking him out on state media will provoke backlash

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Sunday stated that he was convinced that senior officials in the Kremlin had prohibited any coverage of him on state media. He warned that this misleading strategy of withholding information would ultimately end up in a backlash, causing resentment among the Russian people in a matter of months.

Wagner chief and thetaboos of Putin's Russia

Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group and a well-known figure in President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, has gained significant notoriety during the 15-month conflict in Ukraine. He has come up withinfamous outbursts on several occasions, supposedlybreakingthe strict rules put in place byPutin.

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In doing so, Prigozhin supposedly broke the taboos of Putin's Russia, and this is reflected by the fact that Russian state television ignored the fall of Bakhmut for 20 hours and downplayed Prigozhin's role in the significant victory while refraining from airing his victory speech.

Why would Russia blank someone from Putin's inner circle?

In recent months, 'Putin's chef' has gained notoriety for the brutal discipline of his mercenaries and his use of obscene language and prison slang directed at top military figures, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

As per reports, because of this bad blood, after Prigozhin declared victory in Bakhmut, it took the Kremlin 10 hours to issue a brief statement congratulating Wagner and other armed forces units for "liberating" Artyomovsk, the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut used by Russia. However, even then the statement did not mention the Wagner chief by name.

What does the Wagner chief think about this ban?

Reuters reports that when questioned about the apparent ban on his coverage, Prigozhin humorously used a series of Russian proverbs to poke fun at those behind this purported ban and said: "What is forbidden is always sweeter."

He emphasised that Wagner, his mercenary group, was not something that could be easily concealed or dismissed by bureaucrats.

"Wagner is not a piece of slippery soap which the bureaucrats have got used to shoving all over the place; Wagner is an awl, a stiletto that you cannot hide," he said.

"I am absolutely convinced they have forbidden (coverage)."

He warned that attempts to silence the discussion of Wagner would only provoke a strong reaction from the Russian people.

"That high-level bureaucrats, those very towers of the Kremlin, who are trying to shut the mouths of everyone so that they don't speak about Wagner, will only give another shove to the people."

Prigozhin predicted that within a couple of months, the people would respond to the suppression of information by those in power.

"In the long term - long term is two or three months - they will receive a finger-slap from the people for trying to shut everyone's mouths and ears," said the Wagner mercenary group founder.

Reuters reports that till now both the Kremlin and the defence ministry have chosen to ignore Prigozhin's outbursts, despite their apparent violation of the tightly controlled political system established by Putin since he assumed the presidency.

(With inputs from agencies)

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