Once allies, Russia’s mercenary boss is now in a more precarious position with Putin

Tensions have emerged this week between the Kremlin and the head of Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, as President Vladimir Putin appeared to take sides in a long-running and very public dispute between Russia’s mercenaries and the defense ministry.

It’s well known that there’s no love lost between the outspoken Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s Ministry of Defense; Prigozhin has openly and repeatedly criticized the ministry’s most senior officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in expletive-laden rants slamming Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine.

He has also accused senior defense officials of treachery and deliberately withholding ammunition for the Wagner Group which has spent months fighting in Bakhmut, the epicenter of intense hostilities in Ukraine.