Two of Vladimir Putin’s key war chiefs were bitterly fighting each other today as the dictator begs Chinese leader Xi Jinping for urgent military aid.
Head of private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, bluntly and publicly warned defence minister Sergei Shoigu that he will lose all military gains in Bakhmut if he fails to act fast.
Shoigu evidently shunned Prigozhin who soon after launched a scathing attack on the defence minister’s "scumbag" fitness blogging son-in-law.
He did the same when the Wagner boss recently accused Shoigu of refusing to provide ammunition and shells for the private army’s advances.
His answer was to cut Prigozhin’s telephone lines to the military high command.
The incompetent public spat between two key figures close to Putin, both essential for his faltering war effort, must bemuse the watching Xi, and hearten the Ukrainians.
The spat makes it seems Putin has lost control as he seeks to impress the Chinese leader.
Prigozhin publicly told Shoigu that Wagner’s force of mercenaries and convicts risked being encircled by the Ukrainian army.
“At present, PMC [private military company] Wagner units control about 70 per cent of Bakhmut settlement and continue the offensive until its complete liberation,” Prigozhin told Shoigu.
"According to information we have, in late March - early April the adversary plans to start a large-scale offensive and deliver flank-splitting strikes in order to cut off Wagner units from the main forces of the Russian Federation Armed Forces.
"I am asking you to take all necessary measures to prevent the cut-off of PMC Wagner from the main forces of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, which will lead to negative consequences for the SVO [special military operation].
"The adversary's idea and the proposal on how to counter it are in the closed attachment.”
Whether Prigozhin was immediately rebuffed is unclear but hours later he unleashed a barrage against 33-year-old Shoigu’s son in law Alexey Stolyarov, husband of his daughter Ksenia, 32.
In a foul-mouthed rant, he unfavourably compared a convicted armed robber - decorated by Putin after fighting for Wagner - with Stolyarov.
"Look at [Ksenia] Shoigu’s husband, Alexey Stolyarov,” he said.
“Who is better out of the two - [former jail inmate] Hayk, who committed a crime, served his sentence, then left the jail and grew into a true hero or the scumbag blogger [Stolyarov], who was an a*****e and remains an a*****e?”
He was referring to Hayk Gasparyan, 31, freed from his maximum security jail under a scheme allowing hardened prisoners to serve in pro-Kremlin forces illegally invading Ukraine.
The MMA fighter was only a few months into a seven year sentence in a Ryazan jail for armed robbery.
Having now completed six months at the front, he is officially a free man, pardoned under a secret decree by Putin.
“Guys who have committed misdemeanours show they can be heroes, take, for example, already ex-convict Hayk Gasparyan, who solemnly received the medal "For Courage" from the hands of President Putin,” said Prigozhin.
And on the other hand, look at Shoigu's husband - Alexei Stolyarov. Which of them is better - Ike, who committed a crime and sat down, came out and became a real hero, or a scumbag blogger who, as he was a creature, remained one?
He is furious that men like are not being accepted back into Russian society after serving in Ukraine.
“Their heroism became toxic for those who hide under the skirts of their relatives,” he said, alluding to Stolyarov.
“And since the country consists of almost 20 per cent of bureaucrats, they are not given this second opportunity.”
