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Putin could face a “revolution” because of outrage over war in Ukraine, Wagner boss Prigozhin said.
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Russia’s elite not sending “fat, carefree” kids into war could spark public unrest, he added.
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The Times reported that Prigozhin compared the current environment to the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin could have a “revolution” on his hands over his botched war in Ukraine, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said.
In a profane rant during an interview with pro-Kremlin blogger Konstantin Dolgov, the head of the Wagner Group called out Russia’s elite for protecting their children from being drafted into the war, according to a translation from The Times.
“The children of the elite smear themselves with creams and show off on the internet, while ordinary people’s children come home in zinc [coffins], torn to pieces,” he said, according to The Times. “I recommend that the elite of the Russian Federation gathers up, bitch, its youth and send them to war.”
Prigozhin said their “fat, carefree” lives could spark outrage and a “revolution,” leading working-class citizens to storm the elite’s “villas” with “pitchforks.”
That revolution, he concluded, “might end as in 1917,” referencing the Russian Revolution of 1917, when citizens overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
The comments come as Russian forces, including Wagner Group members, claimed victory in Bakhmut over the weekend. Ukraine contested the victory, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisting to G7 leaders in Hiroshima that Kyiv’s soldiers were still fighting for control of the region.
Prigozhin’s volatile attitude and criticisms of Putin are increasingly shocking, but the Russian president is still too reliant on Wagner’s army to punish Prigozhin.
Read the original article on Business Insider
