Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin: "Russia is on the brink of catastrophe." Threatens Putin...

[ClearSky24]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/stop-deceiving-the-population-russias-mercenary-boss-yevgeny-prigozhin-threatens-full-blown-mutiny

Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is back to humiliating the Kremlin and threatening to sabotage Vladimir Putin’s war effort.

"Russia is on the brink of catastrophe,” he said in an interview with a pro-war military blogger on Saturday, openly calling B.S. on the Kremlin’s repeated claims that all is going according to plan in Ukraine.

"We need to stop deceiving the population and telling them that everything is fine,” he said, accusing Russia’s top military brass of deluding themselves about the war or "not giving a damn.”

Prigozhin blamed his foe, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, for a lack of ammunition that he said could cost Russia the war.

Apparently for added effect, he also threatened to tattle on Shoigu to Putin personally.

"The bell is already ringing, we’re sounding the alarm,” he said.

The group, he said, has enough rounds of ammunition left only "for days, not weeks.”

But he made his scorn for military leaders abundantly clear, admitting that the Russian army’s military gains in Ukraine have been laughable.

"What have we even done [since Feb. 24]? We’ve turned the Russian army – the second army in the world – into what? Who the hell knows. … What kind of army are we if we couldn’t even manage with itty bitty Ukraine?

He went on to warn that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is right around the corner, but said that among Russia’s military brass, "nobody gives a damn.”

Wagner, he said, is recovering "thousands and thousands” of bodies of its dead fighters "every day.”

According to him, it won’t be long before he will hold "those accountable who are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Russian guys.”

[Renew Deal]

1. This kind of commentary makes people accidently fall out of windows.

Let’s hope it’s true and not some deception.

[live love laugh]

18. Deception is the first thing that came to mind.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Second Army In The World?

Is that close to true?
They were pulling people off the street & using convicts.
The nukes make them a military threat, but are they really the potent a ground force?
If it weren't for legacy nukes, they'd be a 3rd world backwater.

[FalloutShelter]

4. My father was an aerospace engineer.

He worked on the Apollo mission and later on stealth technology.
I remember during the height of the cold war he would argue at parties that the Russians were a paper tiger with nukes. He would always say that when it came to solid equipment and technological advances… they had NOTHING.
How right he was.
He would point at the hardware in the May Day parades and say… “ see that? that’s it. That’s all they’ve got.”
Miss my dad. Joe reminds me of him. Self deprecating wit, Irish gleam in the eye, and total shade master.

[Indykatie]

7. Your Dad Was A Wise Man - I Suspect RU is Lying About Their Nuclear Capabilities Too

The corruption we've seen with stealing $$$$ intended for military equipment probably exists with their nuclear stock too. After all, did any Russian leader actually think they would use them one day? I don't think so. The billions intended to maintain their nuclear capability probably was spent on yachts and luxury homes in Europe.

[FalloutShelter]

10. Don't remember who, but hears one of the

Retired generals on MSNBC say he really wondered , given the state of their tech, if they can actually get their nukes out of the ground. Maybe just shade, but… makes one wonder.

[oldsoftie]

19. Well, they only need ONE to work.

And I'm sure they've got at least that. As Colin Powell said back in Gulf War 1 when asked about how big a threat a sparse minefield really was, "It only takes ONE mine"

[Ex Lurker]

30. IIRC Powell was actually wounded by a mine in Vietnam NT

[oldsoftie]

31. I just looked it up; he was injured by a punt stick

And then later he was in a chopper crash. Rescued 3 other soldiers.

[paleotn]

16. Yep. Back in the day, a lot of guys knew that.

But fear of underestimating an opponents abilities was pervasive. Even the Pentagon fell hard for the propaganda at times. The F-15 Eagle was developed to counter what was perceived to be the best fighter in the world at the time, the MIG-25 Foxbat. That is until Viktor Belenko defected to Japan in his MIG-25 in 1976. It was fast as hell and had an incredible ceiling, but beyond that it was a generation behind western technology. A piece of crap with only one mission. Intercept the mach 3 capable US B-70 Valkyrie (which was cancelled and never built) in the outset of a nuclear war. Beyond that, it was rather useless. The upside was, in response to a phantom, we ended up with arguably the best fighter ever built until the F-22 Raptor.

Russian doctrine has been built on overwhelming numbers for centuries. Throw enough poorly trained and under equipped troops into the fight and you'll make gains by sheer weight on numbers. That's still their modus operandi.

[Grins]

26. Yes. The book "MIG PILOT"...

…was a terrific read about that defection. One had American engineers in Japan looking at it before it was disassembled, crated and sent to the US, curious about the metal that could sustain such speeds. They didn’t know…until an engineer touched it with a magnet. And it held. Simple steel.

Other parts were the Russian describing the daily lives of the military. Grim.

Other was his getting in a MIG simulator in the US to do air-to-air combat against our top fighter, and how surprised he was when they opened the sim and told him game over - he had been shot down by over-the-horizon radar guidance. Never saw it coming.

Equally fun - his visit to a large but typical grocery store; the shelves loaded. Blew him away!

With all that he almost went back to Russia where a bullet was waiting for his head. The pull of “home” was that strong. At the last hours before getting on a flight to return he changed his mind.

[moreland01]

17. There is a lot of money

in the facade that Russia is a scary enemy. But as far as foreign relations go, why do say we're backing off due to Russia's
nuclear capability? It just boosts Russia's saber rattling even more.

[jaxexpat]

23. Why? Because being "even only a little bit" wrong is total disaster.

There is absolutely no money in having a single nuclear weapon detonate anywhere in the world.

[moreland01]

29. Then our government

doesn't believe the claims that Russia's war capabilities are greatly diminished.

[oldsoftie]

32. Their capabilities have obviously diminished.

Proven by their performance over the past 15 months.
A competent military would've rolled over UKR's military in short order & been fighting the insurgency by now.

[jaxexpat]

40. That horse hasn't moved an inch. I think it's dead.

Why do you insist on beating it?

[EYESORE 9001]

9. Back during the Cold War, I was privy to Top Secret data involving Russian submarines

It made patrols a bit less stressful, knowing that their noise suppression efforts were ineffective against detection by US boats. The USSR sent their nuke boats to sea with problems related to shielding personnel from reactor radiation. In addition, our briefings revealed that their fleet capabilities were far below what was stated. Repairs frequently reduced their numbers underway at any given time.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

20. The second army in the war on Ukraine.

[IronLionZion]

22. Second best army in Ukraine

I hope Russia runs out of ammo and missiles soon.

[Beastly Boy]

3. Prigozhin has his army to hold anyone he wants "accountable" for anything he wants.

Mr Putin, pay attention! You might need a longer table.

[Lovie777]

5. Wagner Group are full of terrorists.................

they are paid to kill, rape, murder the innocent, destruction.

Putin deserves all bad things coming his way. As to the people of Russia, propaganda works, just look at the GQP cult here in the USA.

[DFW]

6. Putin has to realize at this point

The most dire danger to him poersonally is not in Washington or Kyiv, but right down the hall somewhere in the Kremlin.

[FailureToCommunicate]

13. That seems plausible. I wish "they" would get on with it!

[paleotn]

14. Bingo.

I've been wondering for some time how much disaster does it take to set off a palace coup in the Kremlin?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. There seems to be a spike in death among Russian leaders lately, so I think Putin's paying attention

[Firestorm49]

8. It sounds to me like he's looking for a different job - replacing Putin.

[Marthe48]

11. prigozhin could pull wagner group out of Ukraine

Stop adding 'russian guys' to the body count. And maybe if wagner group walked away, there wouldn't be a body count at all.

[paleotn]

12. My advice. Stay away from windows on high floors.

Russia's military was 2nd best? Not since about 1980. Hype, graft, theft and apathy don't make the 2nd best military on earth.

[flying_wahini]

15. Putin won't admit it until he is walking up to the gallows. His ego is too big.

As long as the little guy is paying the price he will never care.
He is cut from the same cloth as TFG.

[oldsoftie]

21. Putin's best move is to act like Hamas; retreat & claim victory.

He can get on stage & say he cleansed UKR of the Nazis & enabled true Russians to safely evacuate, while showing UKR what will happen if they try to attack russia again!!
Now, al that is leaving Crimea off the table. And at this point I think UKR's best move is to focus on the mainland and not reclaiming Crimea. RU has had 8 yrs to push out the residents and push IN Russians. Its certainly a target but as for an actual invasion I'd stay away from it. Its history is also a lot more muddied than the rest of UKR

[Emrys]

37. Crimea is too important strategically to leave in Russian hands,

and abandoning it to Putin would just pave the way for more future conflict by handing him a victory of sorts, and vastly more than he deserves.

History be damned, Crimea ended up part of Ukraine by international treaty, which Russia signed off on. If its status were to change, that would be the route to do so. Otherwise, Putin and his cronies have publicly, loudly and repeatedly declared on their TV propaganda programmes and elsewhere that all historic divisions relating to the old Russian empire are up for grabs, and there'll never be a settled peace in eastern Europe.

[oldsoftie]

38. They took Crimea in '14. We did little about it then.

I'm not saying totally give up on it, but right now with the conditions being what they are, the BEST option for UKR is to focus on getting all of what was taken since feb '22. Then pushing them back to the border from there. THEN they can turn to Crimea. Crimea has been fortified since '14 & will be extremely hard to retake. Trying to do it all at once is a mistake.
Just my opinion, but I just dont think UKR has enough forces to open multiple fronts.

[speak easy]

41. Ukraine's first best option is taking out the Kerch Bridge,

cutting out the main supply lines to the east.

[oldsoftie]

42. On that, I totally agree. That would be a big blow to supply lines in the South.

And I think its fine to attack other logistics routes inside Crimea; just not an actual offensive with troops.

[Escurumbele]

24. I like what he said last

According to him, it won’t be long before he will hold "those accountable who are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Russian guys."

Yes, please, do it now...Start with Putin, that is if Prigozhin doesn't jump from a building first...You know, every time someone goes against Putin they feel so terribly guilty about having said something negative about their leader that they go up on a building and jump to their deaths, so I think he needs to hurry before he gets that urge.

[Emrys]

25. There's more money for Wagner in Africa than in Ukraine. n/t

[oldsoftie]

33. Yes, the Africans seem to be ignoring the fact that Russians are killing Africans.

[Emrys]

35. Wagner's also got Africans killing Africans.

Preoccupied as we've been with Putin and his oligarchs' influence in the West, they've been far from idle elsewhere, including Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Judging by the postings from bot farms and useful idiots I encounter on social media, they've managed to tap into understandable anti-imperialist and anti-Western sentiments and somehow persuade quite a few that Russia's is different and a more benign brand of imperialism.

We even see a little of that sporadically on DU.

[oldsoftie]

39. Yes, I've seen many different African flags on TW backing RU. May be fakes, but who knows.

I've responded to a few; mentioning how much killing the Russians have been responsible for in Africa in recent yrs

[marble falls]

27. Yevgeny Prigozhin better stay awy from windows and tea with Putin.

[GuppyGal]

28. Everybody saying watch out Mr. Prigozhin but I think this guy is equally scary so maybe it's Putin

who should be the one who's watching out.

[Deep State Witch]

34. He'd Better Up His Security Detail

And stay away from windows.