Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, said the Russians should “close the door and work hard” like North Korea for a few years to protect the country.
“We are in a situation where we can lose Russia,” Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military group, said in an interview with pro-Kremlin blogger Konstantin Dolgov on May 24. According to Prigozhin, the war in Ukraine could lead Russia into chaos, so the country must have more drastic policies.
“We have to impose martial law, launch new mobilizations, mobilize people who can participate in production to increase ammunition production,” he said. “Russia needs to live like North Korea for a few years, closing its borders and working hard.”
Referring to Ksenia Shoigu, daughter of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, on vacation in Dubai with her fiancé, Prigozhin said that could make people angry. “It’s best to keep the elite’s children a secret, but some people still flaunt their happy and peaceful lives,” said Prigozhin.
Prigozhin became increasingly influential in Russian politics when his Wagner forces became the spearhead of the operation to attack the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
During this campaign, Prigozhin repeatedly criticized Defense Minister Shoigu and Russian military commanders, accusing them of refusing to supply Wagner with ammunition. He also repeatedly threatened to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut.
Head of the private security group Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin. Photo: TASS
In the interview, Prigozhin stated that his actions were motivated by patriotism and loyalty to President Vladimir Putin. However, he was not above criticizing the sons of the elite, claiming that they deliberately avoided participating in hostilities. According to Prigozhin, the anger of “tens of thousands of relatives” of the dead soldiers could boil over.
“My advice to the elites is to send their children to the front lines, so that when they lose their children, the people will feel fair,” emphasized Prigozhin.
According to him, the “optimistic scenario” for the hostilities is that Western support for Ukraine runs out and China brokers a peace agreement, so that Russia continues to control the territories it conquered in Ukraine.
“I don’t have much faith in this optimistic scenario,” he said, adding that Ukraine could partially succeed in a counter-offensive, pushing Russian troops closer to the border that existed before the hostilities.
Ukraine can also attack Crimea and continue advancing eastwards with modern weapons equipped by the West. “Probably this scenario won’t be good for us. Therefore, we need to prepare for a tough fight”, said Prigozhin.
Huyen Le (According to the Washington Post)
