Why Putin needs Prigozhin

It’s been a tense couple of weeks for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman and founder the of Wagner Group of mercenaries. Russian troops and Prigozhin’s mercenaries have been closing in on the strategic town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, capturing territories around it. On 10 January, Prigozhin boasted that his forces had ‘taken control’ of Soledar, even as fighting continued inside the town and Ukraine disputed the claims. Two days later, Russia’s defence ministry announced that the ‘liberation’ of Soledar was complete. In a separate statement that same day, claiming to respond to various media inquiries, the ministry clarified that the urban territories of Soledar had been captured thanks to the “courageous and selfless actions” of the Wagner Group.

Apparently, Prigozhin, who attributed Soledar’s capture exclusively to his own forces, felt he wasn’t getting enough love. The ministry’s nod to the Wagner Group came just hours after Prigozhin complained about ‘infighting, corruption, bureaucracy and officials clinging to their seats’ and attempts to ban any mention of the group in the media – an indirect jab at the defence ministry.