Yevgeny Prigozhin is widely thought to have been killed in a hit ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin (Picture: AP/Getty/Reuters)
Yevgeny Prigozhin will go down in history as a privateer who represented a return of medieval-style tactics to nation state conflicts, an expert on modern warfare has said.
Professor Anthony King described the Wagner Group leader as a ‘dreadful individual’ who represented a throwback to an earlier age of hired armies.
Prof King, of the University of Warwick, also warned that the conflict in Ukraine is likely to be a protracted affair at ‘incalculable’ cost to Russia and with any victory for Kyiv far on the horizon.
He spoke after Prigozhin was reported to be among 10 people who died in a plane crash north of Moscow on Wednesday night, exactly two months after he abandoned an armed advance on the city.
The Chair of War Studies told Metro.co.uk that the Kremlin had been involved in the ‘medievalisation’ of inter-state warfare by deploying the private military contractor in Vladimir Putin’s ‘disastrous’ full-scale invasion of Ukraine and other conflict zones.
‘In a historic sense, what this points to is a form of medievalisation of contemporary warfare, where irregular and proxy forces, privateers and warlords play an increasingly important role,’ Prof King said.
‘Not just in insurgencies and civil conflicts but in inter-state wars. Prigozhin is therefore an important figure in marking a significant shift away from 20th Century warfare. Yes, there have been many partisans and irregular forces before, but overwhelmingly the main recognised figures in 20th Century wars have been state-recognised generals and national forces.
‘The role of this dreadful individual and Wagner points to the return of the privateer warlord as a key component.’
The last known image of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin showed him alone in a desert area (Picture: Wagner Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A still image posted on a Wagner-linked Telegram channel purportedly showing the plane crash site (Picture: Gray_Zone/UPI/Shutterstock)
MORE : Follow the latest on Prigozhin’s reported death here
Prigozhin, 62, had directed an angry video broadside at two top Russian generals before Wagner fighters made the advance which came within 120 miles of Moscow. Putin described the biggest challenge he has faced in his 20-year rule as a ‘rebellion’ and a ‘stab in the back’ — but the mercenary leader was then apparently able to travel internationally.
The last known image of Prigozhin showed him standing alone with an assault rifle in a desert environment, possibly in Africa.
The Russian president is now widely suspected of having ordered the elimination of his former chef, whose private jet crashed near the city of Tver, about mid-way between Moscow and St Petersburg.
Wagner-affiliated Telegram channels suggested the aircraft, which had been flying at 28,000ft, had been shot down, while former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele raised the suggestion that a bomb had been smuggled onboard hidden in a crate of wine.
Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin hits out at Russian generals as he stands in front of bodies lying on the ground (Picture: Prigozhin Press Service via AP)
‘All the evidence points to this plane crash being an act of assassination by Putin and I’m sure this is the case,’ Prof King said.
‘Prigozhin seriously undermined Putin’s power and status with his act of mutiny back in June and, as we have seen over the last 20 years, people who put themselves in that position, such as Alexei Navalny, are at severe risk of being locked up or liquidated.
‘On one level this sends out the message that Putin’s opponents will be eliminated but it’s also no small thing that he has had an act of mutiny against him and he has had to assassinate such a prominent figure.
‘Although it’s an immediate statement of strength, in the longer term it may be a sign of declining power within the Kremlin that many talked about when the mutiny happened.’
On the battlefield, the demise of Prigozhin and Wagner co-founder Dmitry Utkin, who was also on board, is unlikely to change the grinding nature of the war, according to Prof King. The author, who has worked closely with the British armed forces as an adviser and mentor, believes the bloody conflict is likely to continue until at least 2025.
‘This has been a totally disastrous war for Putin,’ he said.
‘His strategic aims were to eliminate Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government and take over at least from eastern Ukraine to Kyiv and probably the whole of the country. At huge and incalculable cost, I think it’s likely that Putin will hold on to part of Ukraine.
‘I’m not of the school of thought that the counter-offensive has failed but it was always going to be a very difficult task to eliminate Russian forces dug in to defensive positions.
‘I think Ukraine will have a few more successes but a rapid defeat of Russia has faded so far into the distance it’s almost impossible.’
A map showing the route of the flight which is reported to have crashed, killing Yevgeny Prigozhin (Picture: Metro graphics/metro.co.uk)
The Ukrainian counter-offensive is currently taking place along three ‘likely’ axes to the east, including an advance on Bakhmut, according to the UK Ministry of Defence yesterday. Now in its third month, the push to reclaim occupied territory has been hard going as Kyiv’s forces encounter minefields and well-entrenched Russian troops.
‘Ukraine has already had a remarkable outcome compared to what they were facing on February 24 last year,’ Prof King said.
‘Any subsequent success, as president Zelenskyy himself has said, is totally dependent on Western support, such as providing F-16s, artillery systems and training their forces.
‘The question is whether the West can provide enough support to shorten the war and make this Ukrainian counter-offensive completely successful.
‘I’m sceptical, as I think there are physical, industrial and economic limits to the support that can be provided.
‘My take is that it’s going to be a long war and quite aside from reclaiming Crimea and the Donbas the realistic question is whether Ukraine can take back the city of Tokmak, which is a major objective.
‘The city of Melitopol further south represents an even harder objective.
‘For me, this is a war between two nations who are determined to win and have a lot of resources to draw upon, and it is likely to continue to at least 2025.’
A man dressed in military gear stands at an informal memorial next to the Wagner HQ in St Petersburg on August 24 (Picture: Anton Matrosov/EPA)
Major General Volodymyr Havrylov, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, told BBC Newsnight this week that his homeland was weighing the lives of its troops and ‘adjusting’ to battlefield conditions in the counter-offensive.
‘Our approach is simple, we have to save the lives of our people, not to waste them like the Russians do with their soldiers,’ he said.
‘For us, the value of life is number one in our country and our culture.
‘Which is why we have to adjust to the situation on the ground in terms of the mines, in terms of the fortifications. To adjust and adapt our tactics and our equipment. So for us, it is not a matter of time, this counter-offensive, it is a matter of success. Every day, step by step, we are liberating our territory. Sometimes a hundred metres, sometimes one kilometre.’
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov yesterday described allegations that the Kremlin ordered Prigozhin’s death as an ‘absolute lie’.
He told reporters that there had been ‘lots of speculation’ about the crash and dismissed ‘Western talk’ that Putin was to blame.
The Russian president has said an investigation into the incident will be carried out ‘in full and taken right to the end’.
MORE : Wagner Group is ‘decapitated’ but warmongers may keep it alive post-Prigozhin
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Prigozhin was a ‘dreadful individual’ who was likely assassinated by his former paymasters, an expert on modern warfare has said.