The oligarch and founder of the infamous Wagner group mercenary army, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is driven in part by economic motives in the bloody battle for Soledar in eastern Ukraine.
This is the opinion of Ukraine’s chief of defense Oleksiy Reznikov and John Kirby, spokesperson for the US Department of Defense.
– They will make money from the blood, says Reznikov in an interview with the BBC.
– Taking Soledar is part of the battle for Bakhmut. For Prigozhin, there is also an economic motive in the picture, Kirby said during a press conference on Thursday.
Wealth under the ground
On the surface, there is not much that is special about the small town of Soledar in Donetsk Oblast, which before the war had about 10,000 inhabitants.
Under the ground, on the other hand, great values are hidden in the form of salt and gypsum.
Soledar is home to one of Europe’s largest salt mines, and the town also has a large gypsum mine. The name of the town Soledar means “the gift of salt” in both Ukrainian and Russian.
Fears grip: – Death sentence
What both Ukrainian and American authorities believe is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to give Soledar as a gift to Prigozhin in order to conquer it.
The two are friends and close allies, and Prigozhin is often called “Putin’s chef”. It was in the catering and restaurant industry that Prigozhin earned salt in the porridge and even more.
– The state is weak
If the allegations from the Ukrainian and American authorities are true, it means one thing, says Tom Røseth, head teacher in intelligence at the Norwegian Defense Academy (FHS).
– If the Russian state has agreed to let the Wagner group and Prigozhin extract resources in the areas they conquer, it is a sign that the Russian state is weak, says Røseth, who also leads the Ukraine program at FHS.
– Every house is a fortress
– It also shows how the Wagner group has been given far too much leeway, and is emerging as a big problem, he adds.
The intelligence teacher says that “resources are important” in a war, but that these resources – salt and gypsum – have no purpose in the war itself, and that their extraction has exclusively economic motives.
– There will also be no immediate financial gain. It assumes that Prigozhin is allowed to extract this in peace and quiet, and he will not get that now. The distance to the front line is far too short, says Røseth.
– Putin is struggling
The intelligence teacher is also aware that this is something Putin must have allowed, either actively or passively.
– I think Putin is struggling to keep control of all factors during the day. Since he is so concerned with foreign policy and the war, I think there is a lot of scope for domestic actors, such as Prigozjin, says Røseth.
Complete confusion: “Lies strewn”
At the present time, Røseth believes that Prigozhin and Putin’s interests coincide, and that Putin is thus allowing the oligarch to run his own race.
– Then it’s fine. The question is what happens if the interests begin to develop into conflicting, says Røseth.
Ukrainian authorities maintain that Russia has not managed to take all of Soledar.
