Vladimir Putin is said to have turned against the head of the feared Russian Wagner mercenary group after he 'failed to take the hint' and kept on bragging that his forces were achieving more success than Russia's army.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has fallen out of favour with the Russian president after he continuously gloated his private paramilitary fighters were more superior and successful than the country's conventional forces, experts say.
Earlier this month, Prigozhin bragged that his fighters had single-handedly taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, which has been razed by fighting.
Putin is said to have felt threatened by Prigozhin's rise and tactless self-assertion, experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said today. This was evident, they said, when the leader pointedly did not credit Prigozhin or his Wagner forces for town's capture.
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