Russia's influential Wagner Group mercenary chief 'threatens Putin' in explosive rant after disastrous setbacks in Ukraine
11 May 2023, 15:04 | Updated: 11 May 2023, 15:27
The powerful head of Russia's private Wagner Group of mercenaries has launched an explosive, cryptic rant seemingly aimed at Vladimir Putin.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin made the criticisms against an unnamed "grandfather" during a swearword-laden tirade after apparent heavy losses in the battleground city of Bakhmut.
Mr Prigozhin, known popularly as 'Putin's chef' because his company used to cater for the Russian president, said a “happy grandfather” thought that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would end in victory.
"If he turns out to be right, God bless everyone. But what should the country do . . . if it turns out that this grandfather is a complete a*******?"
It is not entirely clear who Mr Prigozhin was referring to, but Mr Putin is often called the “grandfather in the bunker" by the Russian opposition.
Speaking to Russian media, Mr Prigozhin later listed three other Russian officials he might have been calling the "grandfather".
It comes as the UK prepares to label the Wagner Group a terrorist organisation.
The group, which has been active in the war in Ukraine and blamed for several atrocities, will be given the same status as the so-called Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and neo-Nazi outfit National Action.
Blacklisting Wagner would make it a criminal offence to join Wagner, encourage support for it, display its logo in public or attend its meetings.
The Times quoted a Government source as saying the move was "imminent" and likely to be enacted within weeks after two months spent building a legal case.
Labour previously demanded ministers formally label the Wagner Group a terror outfit after accusing it of committing "appalling atrocities".
The Wagner Group, made up of contractors and recruited convicts, has been fighting alongside regular Russian soldiers in areas of eastern Ukraine.
It has been heavily involved in Bakhmut, where the longest - and likely bloodiest - battle of the war has taken place.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin used Moscow's Victory Day parade to accuse the West of unleashing a "real war" on the country with its "untamed ambitions".
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that international allies must continue supporting Ukraine in order to uphold the principle that "powerful nations cannot invade their neighbours with impunity".
West has unleashed ‘real war’ against Russia, Putin tells Victory Day parade
Speaking on a visit to the US, Mr Cleverly said: "Things are complicated, things are messy, things are difficult, things will get scary.
"We will expect to hear escalatory words coming out of Vladimir Putin's lips - we need to be ready for that, we need to have the resolve to continue to do the right thing, notwithstanding those comments."
Labour said in February it wanted ministers to follow the US's lead after Washington designated Wagner a "significant transnational criminal organisation".
In a joint statement, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The Wagner Group is responsible for the appalling atrocities in Ukraine and across the world.
"No-one in the UK should be allowed to belong to the Wagner Group, support it or promote it."
The push for Wagner to be proscribed came after a Government department reportedly helped its millionaire owner Mr Prigozhin to circumvent UK sanctions to take a British journalist to court in 2021.
The Treasury commissioned an internal review of its processes after it was reported that licences had been issued to allow lawyers to help Mr Prigozhin launch legal action against a Bellingcat reporter in the UK while the Russian oligarch was subject to sanctions.
As a result of the review, the department said the Government was committed to "further targeted changes to the process for issuing legal fees licences that safeguard the sanctions regime against the risk of manipulation and ensure ministers are accountable for OFSI Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation) decision-making".
It comes as Russian forces were accused of fleeing in disgrace from the bloodbath they are wreaking on Bakhmut.
Mr Prigozhin accused a regular army unit of abandoning their position and causing the deaths of 500 of his fighters.
