 Kremlin prepares mechanisms to discredit Prigozin as a traitor, Vargana Group financier. Yevgeny Prigozin's reported efforts to cooperate with Ukrainian intelligence would have been part of his feud with the Russian Ministry of Defense rather than an attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Institute for the Study of War, ISW, said this. The ISW assessed that Prigozin is competing with the Russian Ministry of Defense for Putin's favor but had unintentionally alarmed Putin with his military political ambitions. The allegations are likely to cause the Kremlin to remove Prigozin in the near term but can contribute to efforts to discredit Prigozin. Russian officials had reportedly threatened Prigozin with treason if he were to act on his attempt to blackmail the Ministry of Defense into providing him more ammunition by threatening to withdraw from Bakhmut. The Kremlin is likely preparing mechanisms to discredit Prigozin as a traitor. Unnamed Kremlin sources revealed that the Russian Presidential Administration is preparing an information operation to publicly discredit Prigozin but noted that the Kremlin is unlikely to threaten Prigozin while Vargana forces are on the front lines. Prigozin commands the Vargana forces in Donbas and his removal would disrupt the Russian lines in Bakhmut, a risk that Putin is unlikely to take.