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Jun 29, 2023 31 tweets 7 min read Read on X
1/ The bitter feud between Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov appears to have originated in Syria, as an interesting personal account by Prigozhin of the February 2018 Battle of Khasham illustrates. ⬇️
2/ The battle took place when Wagner attempted to seize a US-held oil refinery but was summarily wiped out by American air power. It's been discussed before by a Wagner soldier who was in the battle. Prigozhin explains what happened at higher levels.
3/ Prigozhin claims that the refinery was actually held by ISIS, with "Americans in their ranks" helping them. He says that there were periodic exchanges of fire between ISIS and Wagner, who were aiming to block the US/Kurdish advance into ISIS-held south-eastern Syria.
4/ Prigozhin says he proposed to capture the road leading along the Euphrates from Khsham to the Iraqi border. "On 2 February 2018, I discussed this plan with the Chief of General Staff and then with officers on the ground who were involved in the operation."
5/ "The operation to take control of southeast Syria was planned for the night of 7-8 February, with access to the Conoco plant and further along the road up to the border with Iraq. And once the security zone was established, Syrian army units could be launched from the south."
6/ Prigozhin was confident he had ground superiority over the US and ISIS, but he needed the Russian military to provide "air support and flawless air defences" to protect his ground force.
7/ He says "we were promised that two pairs of SU-35 fighters would be on duty at all times, flying in figures of eights over the Euphrates. So that if enemy aircraft came out, they could attack them and prevent them from hitting the moving infantry.
8/ "It was also promised that all means of air defense would be in operation: S-300, Pantsirs [air defence systems] and other available means of air defence and aviation, which at that time the Wagner PMC did not have."
9/ Prigozhin also says that the Russian MOD promised that they would warn Wagner if there was a threat of any "force majeure".

The operation was launched at 18:00 on 7 February, and at 23:45 the Wagner force attempted to storm the "ISIS" (US) positions.
10/ Then, as Prigozhin relates, the US unleashed the full range of its airpower – drones, attack helicopters, gunships and bombers, which devastated the attacking force and inflicted "a large number of dead and wounded". The attack was abandoned.
11/ Prigozhin says, without explaining why it happened, that he subsequently learned that just as the operation was being launched, Gerasimov ordered the Russian military to stand down, ground its aircraft and turn off the air defence systems.
12/ "According to information that I received from the dispatchers, it was ordered not to inform the Wagner PMC about these measures and subsequently not to contact them in any way."
13/ The Americans had seen Wagner begin advancing from 18:00 and had repeatedly challenged the Russian military to stand them down. When the Russian military disowned the Wagnerites, the US counter-attacked in full force. However, Prigozhin says, Wagner was never informed.
14/ "At 18:00, most of the military commanders left their workplace, went on vacation or even, more accurately, fled.
15/ "And when [Wagner tried to find them] after the shelling started, it turned out that some of them had locked themselves in their wagons, while others had changed their overnight location altogether, so that they could not be reached."
16/ "At 03:00 in the morning we finally managed to break into the RF Armed Forces headquarters to speak to the officer on duty.
17/ "There was a single colonel at the desk, who told us that he would try to resolve the issue so that the shelling would stop and the Wagner PMC fighters could remove the bodies of their slain comrades.
18/ "On 9 February I flew urgently to Moscow and tried to get an appointment with Shoigu to find out what really happened. I wanted to find out why all the agreements had fallen apart and why the tragedy of 8 February had occurred.
19/ "The Minister of Defence refused to receive me. I signed up on the 10th, the 11th and so on ad infinitum, but he had no time to talk to me. Then I caught him at a reception in the Kremlin, where I took advantage of my opportunity.
20/ "I approached him with a request: "Can I discuss with you the situation that occurred on 8 February near Deir ez-Zor?" He turned, calmly and arrogantly replied: “You wanted to be a hero? They were heroic. All the heroes are now here in this hall."
21/ "Here he gestured to those around him in expensive suits – "And you are just confused." That was the end of the conversation."
22/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel adds some additional context which also helps to explain the close relationship between Prigozhin and Russian Air Force chief Sergey Surovikin, who according to the Dossier Center was already an honorary Wagner member.
23/ According to a VChK-OGPU source, Prigozhin's plan of attack at Khsham was "actively lobbied for by Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Surovikin."
24/ "But on 7 February it became known in the General Staff that this plan was a gamble of the Wagner PMC, aimed at obtaining access to the oil field in the interests of the business team of Gennady Timchenko, which by that time already included both Prigozhin and Surovikin.
25/ (Timchenko is an oil billionaire who was the sixth richest man in Russia as of March 2022. A long-time Putin ally, he has been sanctioned over the invasion of Ukraine. He is also reportedly one of the main backers of the Redut mercenary group, which is fighting in Ukraine.)
26/ According to the source, "Gerasimov was furious that the oligarchs were trying to make the armed forces into a servant of their business interests.
27/ "Surovikin's attempts to change Gerasimov's mind were unsuccessful and the only thing that the head of the armed forces was allowed to do was to allocate two planes to take deceased Wagner members to Russia.
28/ "Nevertheless, to this day, for his services in the Syrian campaign of the Russian Armed Forces, Sergey Surovikin receives dividends from the business projects in Syria of the Stroytransgaz joint stock company, controlled by Gennady Timchenko.
29/ "This passive income scheme is operated by Mikhail Khryapov, a friend of the Surovikin family and a member of the Stroytransgaz board of directors." /end

Sources:
🔹
🔹 https://t.co/6o5x3PAIPRtelegra.ph/Evgenij-Prigoz…
t.me/vchkogpu/39652

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More from @ChrisO_wiki

Aug 24
1/ If history had gone differently, the notorious Wagner Group might have been known instead as the slightly less intimidating "Battle Moth". Russian warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova relates an account from former Wagnerites on how it got its name. ⬇️ Image
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Aug 24
1/ The second anniversary of the death of Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin in a highly suspicious plane crash has been marked by retrospectives from many Russian warbloggers. Anastasia Kashevarova, who was close to the Wagnerites, explains what happened after the crash. ⬇️ Image
2/ Kashevarova was on a flight from Moscow to Minsk to meet Wagner members at their base in Belarus. While en route, she learned that a plane carrying the entire core leadership of Wagner had crashed in Russia:
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Aug 24
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby. ⬇️ Image
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Read 9 tweets
Aug 23
1/ Water supplies have been cut off in parts of the Rostov region as firefighters struggle to deal with the ongoing fire at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery. Residents are incredulous at claims by the authorities that there's no problem with air quality. ⬇️
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3/ Following the drone attack on 21 August, the water pressure to residents has been reduced in Novoshakhtinsk and cut off entirely in nearby Krasny Sulin to ensure that firefighters have enough water. Residents also report severe air pollution.
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Aug 22
1/ A Russian soldier has described an ongoing campaign of murder and extortion in the 80th Guards Tank Regiment, in which a sadistic company commander and his accomplices are said to be systematically robbing, torturing, and killing the men under their command. ⬇️
2/ A soldier named Evgeny Alexandrovich has recorded a video message describing how company commander Dmitry Kemerov (‘Kemer’), his deputy Mikhail Dudukov (“Dudka”, pictured right), and a soldier with the call sign ‘Batrak' are systematically abusing the men under their command.
Image
3/ Along with his video message, Evgeny also includes a recording of an apparently wounded man being beaten with his own crutch and a truncheon. "Run, dog, run. And what about you, I ask? You're completely useless. Huh? Come on! And you dented my car."
Read 14 tweets
Aug 22
1/ More charges are reported to have been brought against a Russian colonel who is accused of extorting, robbing, beating, and murdering his men, including his own second-in-command. ⬇️
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3/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, he now faces several new charges of abuse of office. Earlier in August 2025, the 2nd Western District Military Court rejected an appeal by his defence to release him from pre-trial detention.
Read 7 tweets

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