Russia: Prigozhin says stopping special operation would be 'best option'

The boss of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on April 8, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. AP

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2 min

In Russia, another shock statement from Yevgeny Prigozhin, now accustomed to hard-hitting outings. But small surprise, this time, the sulphurous head of the private group Wagner believes that it may be time, for the Kremlin, to whistle the end of the game and its murderous "special operation" in Ukraine, theater of very heavy losses for the Russian side also.

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With our correspondent in Moscow, Julian Colling

For once, it was in an article published on Telegram that Yevgeny Prigozhin threw a pavement in the pond on Friday.

For the boss of the militia Wagner, the main thing would now be to stick to the territorial gains made in the Donbass and the south of the country, trying by all means to defend them.

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In a sense, the goals set have been achieved, and we have also destroyed a large part of the Ukrainian male population. " he says. "This would be the best option, for the government as well as for the Russian people," he said.

It should be remembered that the entrepreneur knows better than anyone the heavy Russian losses conceded to try to gain ground in the east. According to various estimates, about 30,000 fighters of the Wagner Group have already died in Ukraine.

In any case, this is not the first time that the omnipresent Mr. Prigozhin has been noticed by a statement that goes against the doxa generally heard in Moscow, and dictated by the hardliners of the regime. Vladimir Putin himself continues to repeat that the very survival of the Russian nation depends on the defeat of the "Nazi" and "anti-Russian" regime in Kiev.

The Russian authorities have not commented on the statements of Yevgeny Prigozhin, increasingly seen as a free electron, and who notably embarrasses the Russian special services, FSB in the lead. His position should continue to fuel speculation about possible political ambitions of the sulphurous businessman.

In a populist gesture that he likes, Mr. Prigozhin has once again widely criticized, in his text, the elites and the Russian "deep state", who would know nothing about the war and would be totally disconnected from the population.

►Read more Russia: Yevgeny Prigozhin salutes the memory of the blogger killed in an explosion

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