PMC “Wagner” was able to achieve impressive results during the military operation in Ukraine, such formations are needed, the situation “draws a line under the talk about their need,” said the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, on his telegram channel.
“Therefore, when I finish my work in the civil service, I seriously plan to compete with our dear BROTHER (the founder of Wagner PMC) Yevgeny Prigozhin and create a private military company. I think everything will work out.????” he wrote (spelling and punctuation preserved).
Kadyrov noted that the Wagner attack aircraft are doing “an extremely difficult part of the work” and achieving their intended goal, according to him, fighters of the Chechen Akhmat units can confirm such an assessment.
Analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) considered on the eve that Kadyrov refused to join Prigozhin’s criticism of the Defense Ministry.
In mid-February, Prigozhin spoke of the lack of communication between Wagner and the Russian army now and never before, analysts saw this as confirmation of their observation. Prigozhin visited the Akhmat commander Apta Alaudinov at the clinic, which ISW analysts considered an attempt by Prigozhin to “enlist the support” of the head of Chechnya.
Kadyrov at the same time on February 18 announced his “excellent relationship” with the Ministry of Defense and the absence of disagreements. “Any appointment as supreme commander, any order, any task – each of these decisions is supported by us,” he stressed.
Prigozhin said last November that he had no political ambitions. The Kremlin considers the information about the conflict between the founder of the Wagner PMC and the Ministry of Defense to be manipulation by “information opponents”. At the same time, sometimes “our friends themselves behave in such a way that no enemies are needed,” said Dmitry Peskov, a presidential spokesman.