The Complex Role of Mercenary Prigozhin in Putin's War.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russia's most powerful mercenary, has won a battle for Bakhmut in Ukraine, but has also heaped insults on Putin's top military men, breaking the taboos of Putin's tightly controlled political system. Public criticism from within the system of the war, and of Putin's team, is not tolerated in Putin's Russia, but Prigozhin is not directly challenging Putin but rather playing a jester role and acting with the approval of those dismayed by the military's conduct of the war, officials, diplomats and analysts told Reuters.