Prigozhin warns Russia may face revolution unless elite take war seriously

(Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the use of Western-made military equipment by pro-Ukrainian fighters who carried out an attack in a Russian region on the border with Ukraine this week was consistent with the West’s growing involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

The Russian Army said on Tuesday that it had defeated militants who attacked the Russian border area of Belgorod with armored vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the rest back into Ukraine.

Images of some of the destroyed vehicles used by the pro-Ukrainian fighters broadcast by Russian state media showed US-made military equipment.

“It is no secret to us that more and more equipment is being delivered to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is no secret that this equipment is being used against our own military. And it is no secret to us that the direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in this conflict is growing every day,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“We are drawing the appropriate conclusions.”

Prigozhin warns Russia may face revolution unless elite take war seriously

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, warned that Russia may face a 1917-like revolution and lose the war in Ukraine unless the elite take the conflict seriously.

Russia’s most powerful mercenary said his political outlook is dominated by love of country and serving President Vladimir Putin, but warned that Russia is at risk of turmoil.

Prigozhin said that there is a supposedly optimistic view that the West will tire of war and China will broker a peace deal, but that he does not really believe this interpretation.

Instead, he said, Ukraine is preparing a counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to their pre-2014 borders, when Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine will try to surround Bakhmut, the focus of intense fighting in the east, and attack Crimea, he added.

“Most likely, this scenario is not good for Russia, so we need to prepare for a hard war,” he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

“We are in such a condition that we could lose Russia – that is the main problem … We need to impose martial law.”

Prigozhin said his nickname “Putin’s chef” is stupid because he can’t cook and has never been a chef, joking that “Putin’s butcher” might be a more appropriate nickname.

“They could have given me a nickname right away – Putin’s butcher, and everything would be fine,” he declared.

If ordinary Russians continue to bring their children back in zinc coffins, while the children of the elite “shake their asses” in the sun, he said, Russia will face turbulence similar to that of the 1917 revolutions, which started a civil war.

“This division may end like in 1917 with a revolution,” he said.

“First the soldiers will rise, and after that – their loved ones will rise,” he said. “There are already tens of thousands of them – relatives of the dead. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands – we can’t avoid that.”

The Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Prigozhin criticized Russia’s post-Soviet policy toward Ukraine and branded the implementation of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” as obscure, contradictory and confusing.

Russia’s military leadership, he said, screwed up repeatedly during the war. The stated goal of demilitarizing Ukraine, he said, has failed.

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