INDIA TODAY
By India Today News Desk: Amid uncertainty over the future of the Wagner Group after its failed mutiny in Russia, a photo of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in his underwear, waving at a camera, surfaced online. It was taken on June 12, 11 days before Prigozhin announced his armed mutiny against the military leadership, prompting Vladimir Putin to deem him a traitor, The Independent reported.
The semi-nude photograph of Prigozhin, sitting on a small bed in a large tent was leaked online in the midst of a campaign in the Russian media to discredit the mutineer.
Last week, six photos were leaked to the media that appeared to show Prigozhin in a series of bizarre disguises, wearing ill-fitting wigs and fake beards, the report said.
The photograph of Prigozhin in his underwear surfaced hours after President Vladimir Putin chose “real commander” Andrei Troshev to lead the Wagner Group. Putin, whose grip on power was questioned during the brief Wagner march to Moscow, insisted that Wagner never actually existed as a legal entity under Russian law.
Wagner fighters played a key role in the Russian army’s advance into eastern Ukraine and were the driving force in the capture in May of the city of Bakhmut after months of battles. But Prigozhin constantly accused the military of failing to back his men and Wagner fighters, unhappy with the military leadership, took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 23 and began moving towards Moscow.
