Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has confirmed that he was sidelined from recruiting any more prison inmates for the war against Ukraine—and blamed jealous Russian officials for the move. “Wagner and I have been completely pushed aside from this process,” Prigozhin was quoted saying in a letter shared on social media by a regional lawmaker. He cited three reasons for the decision, the first being the mercenary group’s “extremely high efficiency in completing tasks, which puts a certain number of designated authorities in an awkward situation, and also discredits the work of some units in other sectors of the front.” He claimed Wagner also rankled officials by treating prisoners as “equals” on the battlefield, and that “military-aligned officials decided that if they recruited prisoners, they would be able to become famous like Wagner.” Human rights groups say Russia’s Defense Ministry has taken over the twisted prison-recruiting scheme that saw convicts promised a pardon in exchange for killing Ukrainians.