The UK Ministry of Defense believes that the ongoing disputes of the head of the Wagner Group mercenary organization, Yevgeni Prigozhin, with the Russian authorities have caused him to lose his access to prisons, the agency’s main recruitment center.
For this reason, the British Defense Intelligence Service maintains that »it is very likely» that Prigozhin is focusing his recruitment efforts on free Russian citizens, even reaching secondary schools in Moscow, where information about the organization has been distributed.
Since the beginning of March 2023, the Wagner Group has set up information booths at sports centers in at least 40 locations in Russia. UK claims that if Prigozhin’s organization has problems swelling its ranks it will most likely reduce operations in Ukraine.
British Intelligence also claims that »it is likely» that half of the prisoners Wagner sent to Ukraine have either been killed or injured and finds it difficult for all these new initiatives to compensate for the loss of the troops he was able to recruit in Russian prisons.
In recent weeks, the relationship between Prigozhin and high officials of the Russian Ministry of Defense seems to have soured, after the former publicly protested against delays in ammunition deliveries to the front, even going so far as to speak of »treason» on the part of the military leadership.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
