The influence of the head of PMC " The businessman is openly trying to create a PMC image of an elite military formation with better discipline and training than the regular army of the Russian Federation. He advocates equal status for mercenaries and Russian soldiers, which only reinforces the image of a " This is written by experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

According to them, Prigozhin is using his popularity to legitimize the Wagner group as a semi-state armed force and increase his own power by lobbying for more state benefits for mercenaries who fought in Ukraine.. In particular, on December 18, he complained that the local authorities of St. Petersburg refused to bury a Wagner fighter in the burial places of the participants in the "

The businessman also published a letter calling on Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, to expand the status of a combat veteran to Wagner PMC fighters.. Some Russian military bloggers immediately supported this event, arguing that "

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According to ISW experts, this indicates that Prigozhin is trying, at a minimum, to equate the " Moreover, he deliberately creates for the company the image of a highly disciplined formation that compares favorably with the armed forces.. That is why Prigozhin disseminates in the public space information about the executions of "

“Such reports indicate that the Wagner group is struggling with issues of morale and discipline among recruits, the same as in the regular Russian forces, but they do this through harsh punishments, and not deceit and attempts to appease disgruntled recruits, which characterizes.

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Earlier, The New York Times analyzed Prigozhin's path from a shadow assistant to Putin to a person who has a significant impact on the opinion of Russian society..