CNN —Yevgeny Prigozhin, the bombastic chief of Russia’s private mercenary group Wagner, appears to be falling out of favor fast in Moscow, after he unleashed a tirade against the Russian military on Friday and vowed to retaliate against its leaders. Prigozhin on Friday accused Russia’s military of attacking a Wagner camp and killing a “huge amount” of his men. Prigozhin founded Wagner to be a shadowy mercenary outfit that fought both in eastern Ukraine and, increasingly, for Russian-backed causes around the world. While many regular Russian troops saw setbacks on the battlefield, Wagner fighters seemed to be the only ones capable of delivering tangible progress. In one particularly grim video from early May, Prigozhin stood next to a pile of dead Wagner fighters and took aim specifically at Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

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Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Russia’s, ”, Prigozhin, Prighozhin, Vladimir Putin, Dimitry Peskov, Putin, Mark Hertling, Sergei Shoigu, Gen, Valery Gerasimov, “, ” Putin Organizations: CNN, Prigozhin, Kremlin, Defense, Russian Federation, Social, Central African, United, Bakhmut, Russian Defense Locations: Moscow, Russia’s Rostov, Russia, Ukrainian, Russian, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Syria