Kremlin takes Prigozhin's claim about 'old man Putin' as serious threat – media

This was reported by the Russian media, citing sources.

“Of course, he can then say that it's about Shoigu or an abstract person, but people draw clear conclusions,” one source said.

Interlocutors close to the presidential administration claim that the Kremlin took Prigozhin's words as a serious threat. One of the sources notes that Prigozhin is now acting “not in a common team and not in common interests” with the Russian authorities.

“He has his own project, Bakhmut, and he does everything for it. But this is a personal project to gain influence on the Defense Ministry so that Wagner Group becomes the main winning force,” the source said.

War criminal Yevgeny Prigozhin published a video in which he claimed that the Wagner PMC lacked ammunition and accused the Russian Defense Ministry of failing to fulfill its promises to supply shells.

“A happy old man thinks he's doing well. What should the country do next? If he turns out to be right, God bless everyone. But what should the country do, what should our children, grandchildren, the future of Russia do, and how should we win the war if it turns out by chance, I just assume, that this man is a complete a**hole?” Prigozhin said in the video.

A source in a state media claims that the propagandists have already received a warning from the presidential administration that if Prigozhin continues to criticize the Defense Ministry and talk about the failures at the front, he should be positioned as a traitor to Russia in publications.

• American analysts believe that the inability of Wagner PMC financier Yevgeny Prigozhin to fulfill his threat to withdraw from Bakhmut indicates that he is aware of his dependence on the Russian Defense Ministry.