The Russian Ministry of Defense on January 13 falsely stated that the Russians had captured and controlled the entire Soledar. And at the same time, this announcement emphasized the split between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Wagner PMC, because it said that the Wagnerites were not involved in the successes of the Russian army in Soledar. This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for January 13.

“The Russian Ministry of Defense tried to justify its dismissive attitude towards the Wagner PKK, claiming that the Russian “diverse group of forces” was carrying out a “general plan” in the Soledar direction and attributed the attack on residential areas to Wagner PKK troops,” the ISW report says..

At the same time, ISW analysts noted that the founder of PMC Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, vaguely responded to this, saying that he could not comment on the situation and noted that journalists' questions about this show their concern about the honor of Wagner's " Possibly, Prigozhin tried to prevent the announcement by accusing unnamed officials and officials of "

“The Russian Defense Ministry announcement highlighted the existing conflict between the Wagner Group and the Russian Defense Ministry – a dynamic that ISW has previously observed and assessed.. Several well-known milbloggers, including those associated with the Kremlin, said that the conflict between the Russian Ministry of Defense and Prigozhin continues behind closed doors and in the information space.. Some have observed that Prigozhin defeated the Russian DoD's deliberately vague rhetoric by forcing the Russian DoD, and by extension the Kremlin, to end its longstanding policy of withholding recognition of Wagner and his war effort.. A Kremlin-linked Milblogger said that Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry are still trying to undermine each other, and accused Prigozhin of refusing to recognize the Russian armed forces as a fighting force,” ISW said..

Prigozhin is likely, as suggested by the ISW, to use the victory in Soledar as a bargaining tool to increase his authority in Russia..

[see_also ids\u003d"

Recall, according to the Ukrainian project for checking the facts Stopfake. org, the enemy is currently using an information-psychological special operation (IPSO) regarding the alleged retreat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Soledar. Now there really are heavy battles, but the information about the capture of the city is not confirmed not only by the above-mentioned experts, but also by the military themselves..