Prigozhin Promises New 'Victories' for Wagner Group

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin issued a pithy new statement on Monday, short in words and vague in the aftermath of his paramilitary organization's attempted mutiny of Moscow nine days earlier.

Prigozhin hasn't been seen publicly since he occupied a vehicle departing the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on June 24. He later received a peace deal of sorts from close Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, to seek refuge in his country in exchange for military de-escalation against Moscow and Russian Army officials.

"Today, more than ever, we need your support," Prigozhin said as part of a 41-second message published on Telegram. "Thank you for that. I want you to understand that our 'March of Justice' was aimed at fighting traitors and mobilizing our society. And I think we have achieved a lot of it.

"In the near future, I am sure that you will see our next victories at the front. Thanks guys!"

Questions remain of whether the continued fallout between former close allies Putin and Prigozhin will lead to any serious consequences, particularly for Prigozhin, considering his threats to not just the Kremlin but top military officials like Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Brian Taylor, a political science professor and Russian expert at Syracuse University, told Newsweek that the mutiny fallout has put Putin in a position he's neither familiar nor comfortable with—often using his pulpit to blast political enemies, both inside and outside of Moscow.

"Now he's applying that very same language to one of his own guys, someone he elevated to a position of power and responsibility," Taylor said. "Although he's not directly attacking Putin, [Prigozhin's] attacking the minister of defense in the army.

"De facto he is articulating a series of grievances that ultimately strike at Putin in the system he's created itself, even though he's someone who has come from within the inner circle in some respects."

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, questioned the message's undertones in a tweet.

"[Prigozhin] did not specify which front or what kind of victories," he said. "Is this just to show Prigozhin is still alive? Or hint that he might continue?"

In June, former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul predicted that Putin is "probably not done" in dealing with Prigozhin. The 24-hour mutiny, while garnering global attention, was viewed by some as an abject failure.

"Prigozhin had his chance...He had to do some political things—to call upon the people, call up the military [and] other armed agencies to join him," Boris Bondarev, Russia's first and only diplomat to publicly quit over Putin's war in Ukraine, said following the mutiny.

"He should have clearly pictured his goals, his political goals...that potentially could have brought him some support."

The group composed of mercenaries reportedly stopped soldier recruitment for a one-month period, based on a Telegram message issued on the group's behalf on Sunday that alluded to relocation inside Belarus as a prime reason for the hiring postponement.

And in a Telegram message Friday, the Wagner Group announced that it had cut ties with one of its top executive leaders, former Russian Army Colonel Andrey Troshev—a retired colonel and former participant in military conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria and Chechnya. Russian officer Dmitry Podolsky will fill that role.