We're used to hearing Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ranting and raving at Russia's military leadership - particularly at defence minister Sergei Shoigu - for problems on the battlefield.

Public infighting between the Wagner mercenary group and the Ministry of Defence isn't new.

But this is.

In his latest video tirade via Telegram, Prigozhin blames Shoigu for starting Russia's war in Ukraine in February last year.

Speaking first about the fighting in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014 after Russia's military intervention, Prigozhin said: "We were hitting them, and they were hitting us. That's how it went on for those eight long years, from 2014 to 2022. Sometimes the number of skirmishes would increase, sometimes decrease."

"On 24 February [2022] there was nothing extraordinary happening there. Now the Ministry of Defence is trying to deceive the public, deceive the president and tell a story that there was some crazy aggression by Ukraine, that - together with the whole Nato bloc - Ukraine was planning to attack us.

 

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Prigozhin suggesting Putin, the architect, was deceived about Ukraine is absurd, he's trying to tell the whole truth, and should just do it, because he's not going to live to see the next Mayday parade anyway.

 

He can't win over the people because most Russians still go along with Putin's party line, why would they not? It's all they've ever known. 

 

This war now has more plot twists than Breaking Bad.