Soledar May Be 'Bargaining Tool' in Wagner Chief's Push for Authority: ISW

Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief financier of the mercenary collective Wagner Group, likely sees the capture of Soledar as a "bargaining tool" with the Russian government, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

In a Friday statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed that Soledar, a salt-mining town on the outskirts of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, was "liberated" by Russia's military.

However, the announcement "sparked significant backlash," ISW reported, after Russia's MoD failed to mention the Wagner Group's involvement.

According to Friday's assessment from the ISW, the Kremlin's ministry "issued a follow-up announcement six hours later recognizing Wagner volunteers and assault detachments as participants in the Battle for Soledar."

"Prigozhin likely seeks to use the victory in Soledar as a bargaining tool to elevate his authority in Russia," the ISW added.

The think tank also noted that several Russian "milibloggers" have reported accounts of conflict between Prigozhin and the Russian MoD behind "closed doors," and indicated that Prigozhin had already made the Kremlin budge on its "vague rhetoric" that often excluded recognizing the Wagner Group in its war efforts.

Despite claims from both Prigozhin and the Russian army that Soledar is under control of Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops, the Ukrainian military has denied the statements, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his soldiers "are protecting the state."

The ISW previously said this week that even if Russia does take control of the town, on which Putin has put much of his focus in recent months, "Russian information operations have overexaggerated the importance of Soledar" in the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

The think tank has also previously assessed that Prigozhin is likely interested in Soledar as an opportunity to capture natural resources in neighboring areas. A White House official said last week that the Wagner leader likely wants to take control of the salt and gypsum mines.

Since the Wagner Group's formation in 2014, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied its existence or its ties to Moscow's war efforts. As Newsweek has previously reported, however, the "public narrative" around the mercenary group changed after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.

The private militia has also been accused of performing Russia's "dirty work" in the past, including in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mozambique and eastern Ukraine, and of violating human rights in the process.

In November, the Wagner Group was accused of committing war crimes in the Russia-Ukraine war by a law firm in London, England.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.