Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, accused the Russian Army of shelling his bases and threatened to respond to the attacks. The Kremlin denied the accusations and opened a file against the mercenary for “calling for armed rebellion”; also tightened security at government buildings, transport facilities and other key locations in Moscow
Yevgueni Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, accused the Russian Army of bombing the positions of the private military company on Friday, June 23, and promised to punish the culprits.
“Those who liquidated our boys today, those who liquidated thousands and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished,” Prigozhin announced on Telegram, where he asked the forces under the Ministry of Defense not to resist Wagner because, otherwise Otherwise, they will be “deleted immediately”.
The Wagner Group is a military company private, which operates as an independent branch of the state, and has been closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s projects around the world.
It is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch known as ‘Putin’s cook’, and the group has carried out covert operations in Africa and the Middle East, and was also responsible for fomenting trouble in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
? LAST MINUTE | Wagner’s boss says he is ‘revolting’ against Russian military leadership after accusing them of bombing his camps https://t.co/MQVSECTg9p pic.twitter.com/B2it9JTE8E
— THE COUNTRY (@el_pais) June 23, 2023
The Kremlin responds
The Kremlin denied the accusations and stated that “appropriate measures are being taken”, while the Federal Security Service (the former KGB) opened a file against Prigozhin for “calling for armed rebellion”.
Article 279 of the Russian Penal Code states that “calling for armed rebellion” is a “particularly serious” crime that carries a prison sentence of between 12 and 20 years.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, reported this Friday, June 23, that Puntin “is informed” of the situation that is developing around the Wagner mercenary group and that “the appropriate measures are being taken”; reviewed the official agency RIA Novosti.
Wagner: “The war was not necessary”
“The war was not necessary to return Russian citizens to our bosom, nor was it necessary to demilitarize or denazify Ukraine,” Prigozhin said, referring to Putin’s official justifications for invading in 2022.
“War was needed,” he continued, “so that a group of animals could simply rejoice in glory.”
Prigozhin denounced that “the Ministry of Defense is trying to deceive the society and the president and tell us a story about how there was a crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they planned to attack us with all of NATO.”
For the Wagner leader, the official version – the only one that is legal to spread in Russia – is only “a beautiful story”, because “the war was necessary… so that Shoigu could become a marshal (…) so that he could obtain a second ‘Hero’ medal [de Rusia]. The war was not necessary to demilitarize or denazify Ukraine.”
BREAKING: Wagner mercenary head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is accusing the Russian military of bombing his troops in Ukraine, killing “tens of thousands.”
He is threatening to march on Moscow.pic.twitter.com/nOvycaV8Z4
—Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) June 23, 2023
The military “wash in their blood”
These tensions occur in the midst of a counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops to reconquer territories taken by Russia since the start of the military intervention in February 2022.
A few hours before the outbreak of this crisis, Prigozhin assured that the Russian army was “withdrawing” in eastern and southern Ukraine, contradicting the claims of the Kremlin, for which the Kiev counteroffensive is failing.
“The (Russian) army is withdrawing in the Zaporizhia and Kherson (south) areas, the Ukrainian armed forces are pushing back” Russian troops, he said in an interview published on Telegram by his press service.
“There is no control, there are no military triumphs” for Moscow, Prigozhin insisted, adding that the Russian military “washes itself in its blood,” alluding to heavy losses suffered by regular troops.
Wagner: “It is not a coup”
“We are 25,000 and we are going to find out why there is chaos in the country,” Prigozhin wrote while denying that it was a coup.
Wagner’s boss assured that the desire to end the reigning “chaos” is “not a coup”, but a “march for justice”, and that military operations would not be affected by Wagner’s actions.
According to Prigozhin, after “taking care of” those who “annihilate” Russian soldiers, Wagner’s fighters will “return to the front.”
“Justice will be restored in the troops, and, after that, in all of Russia,” he said.
Security was tightened on Friday night at government buildings, transport facilities and other key locations in Moscow, state news agency TASS reported, citing a security service source.
The US “monitors” the situation in Russia
The White House is “monitoring” the situation in Russia and US President Joe Biden is being briefed as the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, hardens his rhetoric against the Russian Defense Ministry; he reported EFE.
“We are monitoring the situation and we will consult with our allies and partners about these events,” a spokesman for the National Security Council said in a statement shared with various US media.
Developing…
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