Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began more than a year ago and has been helped in part by mercenary forces. In particular, this means the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit led by a man named Yevgeny Prigozhin.
A private military contractor with a big ego, Prigozhin has recently been causing a lot of drama in Russia by coming after Putin himself and humiliating the president on the world stage.
His latest hilarious and humiliating mockery of Putin has many wondering what Putin’s next move will be.
What Did Prigozhin Say?
Prigozhin said that Putin is a “happy grandpa” who’s useless at fighting a war and claimed Putin isn’t getting ammo to the military. Prigozhin recently went on video, cursing at the Russian military chain of command for stranding his mercenaries in the field without proper equipment.
In his latest video, he said Putin is a “complete a**hole” who doesn’t know how to win a war and leaves ammo stocked up in warehouses instead of getting it to the infantry.
At the same time as Prigozhin was ranting about these complaints, Putin was participating in the Victory Day parade back in Russia’s capital of Moscow. The parade didn’t live up to some of the hype.
The small number of participants at the event in Red Square was visible.
The gloves are off!!!
Prigozhin refers to Putin as a ‘happy grandpa’ and ventures a guess that there's a possibility this ‘happy grandpa’ might be a ‘complete a*shole’,#Russia #Putin #Wagner #Prigozhin #RussiaUkraineWar #RussianArmy pic.twitter.com/KRPMl0jrPu
— Natalka (@NatalkaKyiv) May 9, 2023
NATO To Ramp Up Spending?
Meanwhile, from the NATO side, Western leadership has called for more weaponry to contribute to Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
A recent NATO general meeting headed by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg agreed that all NATO countries have to increase their defense spending.
They should prioritize those countries that have said they are unable to reach the 2% of GDP military spending margin established in 2014. Stoltenberg hopes everyone will agree to this at the July meeting in Vilnius.
Trump has been calling for this for years.
Russia’s army is the most powerful in the world, – putin.
“Historical parade” with T-34 on the Red Square in Moscow.‼️🇷🇺👍🏼#Ukraine #UkraineRussianWar️ #bakmut #Zaporizhzhya #prighozin #VictoryDay pic.twitter.com/xfrfLoVBsm
— WarFrontline (@WarFrontline) May 9, 2023
The Bottom Line
It’s hard to know how much of this infighting is for real and how much is designed to make Russia look weaker than it is. What’s clear is the war in Ukraine is not going how Russia hoped.
This article appeared in FreshOffThePress and has been published here with permission.
