Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[Bofferbrauer2]

SecondWar said:

A odd note from the Guardian's live feed.

'The chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said he will not appeal against EU sanctions against him, and that they are justified.

“As for contesting sanctions against me and sanctions against PMC Wagner, I am not going to contest them and I believe that at the moment they are imposed quite reasonably,” he said in a statement, reported by Agence France-Presse.Prigozhin is an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, and his recruits have been fighting for months to capture the battle-scarred city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

He made the statement after a European court earlier Wednesday cancelled EU sanctions imposed on his mother, Violetta Prigozhina (see 11:36am), ruling that Brussels had not proved she was linked to her son’s actions in Ukraine.

In a statement, the EU general court said even if Prigozhin was responsible for illegal acts in Ukraine, the evidence presented against his mother when the sanctions were applied last year was insufficient'

Not quite sure what angle he taking to make that statement. That he doesn't care, that he can use the removal of sanctions on his mother to his own ends, or (less likely) some rebuke towards the Kremlim.

I think Prigozhin knows that if the Special Military Operation fails, Putin's days are counted. As such, he following a dual strategy: Fight in the war and reap the rewards if they win, and set himself up a strongman successor of Putin if it fails. Putin desperately needs the Wagner Group right now, so there's not much he can do about it, either.