- Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin backed up criticisms of Russia's top general, the Daily Beast reported.The leader of the pro-Russian Wagner Group private army endorsed a stinging criticism of Russia's official military, the Daily Beast reported, escalating the in-fighting around the war in Ukraine.It is the latest salvo in a bitter rift between Russia's formal military leaders and Wagner, the private army smiled upon by President Vladimir Putin and which is supporting the country's invasion of Ukraine.In the video, a Wagner fighter addresses comments to the Chief of the General Staff of Russia's army, Valery Gerasimov: "You are a fucking motherfucker," he said, per the Beast's translation.According to Politico, in October fractures emerged in the Russian military elite and two camps formed, with the ultra-hawkish Prigozhin and Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov on one side, and the more establishment figures of Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the other."