Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin urged Russian authorities and elites to take the war in Ukraine seriously, warning that the country might face a revolution similar to the Bolshevik uprising of 1917 and lose the war.
In his Telegram channel, Prigozhin said the gains Russians made, including their recent capture of Bakhmut, would go to waste if the Russian military would slow down its war effort.
"[T]his scenario will not be good for Russia, so we need to prepare for an arduous war," he said.
Prigozhin also criticized the Russian elite for protecting their children from fighting the war while children of ordinary Russians died on the frontlines of Ukraine, which could trigger turmoil back home.
The price of taking Bakhmut
Prigozhin's remarks came as the Wagner group suffered heavy casualties in taking Bakhmut from the Ukrainians.
In an interview with media technologist Konstantin Dolgov, the Wagner boss pinned the blame for the unit's 20,000 casualties on Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian armed forces chief of staff Valeriy Gerasimov.
He alleged Wagner recruited around 50,000 prisoners at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has steadily lost manpower over the past 15 months due to death, injury, and the end of the contract.
Prigozhin also criticized Moscow's plan to "demilitarize" Ukraine, saying that Russia's aggression made Ukrainians "a nation known to the entire world."
Russian PM Visits Beijing
Meanwhile, Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin became the highest-ranking Kremlin official to visit Beijing when he met his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang.
Mishustin's visit on Wednesday was focused on signing a set of bilateral agreements between Russia and China as the West continued to isolate both countries.
The memoranda of understanding signed during the visit included an agreement to deepen investment cooperation in trade services, an agricultural exports pact, and sports cooperation.
"Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level," Mishustin told Li in their meeting.
Mishustin added that the close collaboration of their two countries would "[make] it possible to move mountains."
In response, Li told his Russian counterpart that China is "willing" to implement joint cooperation between their two countries, as well as promoting "pragmatic cooperation" in various fields.
