NEWS CENTER – Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed he is moving against Russia’s military leadership and that his fighters have entered the country’s Rostov region ready to “destroy everything” in their way – in a stunning series of developments that pits Moscow’s security establishment against a militia leader whose forces have played a pivotal role in the war of Ukraine.
Prigozhin, who is the chief of private military group Wagner, made the claims in a series of Telegram messages on Friday and Saturday in which he accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp and killing “a huge amount” of his fighters. Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied Prigozhin’s claims, calling it an “informational provocation”.
The Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s domestic intelligence service, has responded by urging Wagner fighters to detain their leader and on Friday it opened a criminal case against the Prigozhin. The mercenary, who has frequently criticized Russia’s traditional military hierarchy, warned in his messages that retribution would be meted out for the alleged attack on his fighters.
“We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers and return to the front, justice for the troops will be restored, and then justice for all of Russia,” he said. “There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country. There are 25,000 of us waiting as a tactical reserve and a strategic reserve. It’s the whole army and the whole country, everyone who wants to, join us. We must end this debacle,” he said, in a radical escalation of a longstanding feud with Russia’s military leaders.
Security measures were stepped up in Moscow Friday night. Russian intelligence official, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseev, posted a video about Prigozhin’s actions that day, describing it as a coup attempt.
“Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority. This is a coup d’etat. There is no need to do this now, because there is no greater damage to the image of Russia and to its armed forces,” he added. Prigozhin said that his criticism of the Russian military leadership was a “march of justice” and not a coup. “This is not a military coup, this is a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way,” Prigozhin said.
FSB opened a criminal case against Mr Prigozhin, accusing him of “calling for an armed rebellion” and attempting to start armed civil conflict in Russia. The FSB also reportedly called on Wagner fighters to disobey his orders and to take steps to apprehend him.
Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement that “all reports by Prigozhin spread on social media” of Russian strikes on Wagner camps were “not true and are an information provocation”. It comes after a video message in May in which Mr Prigozhin stood surrounded by the bodies of his troops and berated Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu – as well as Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov – for not providing them with enough ammunition.
As this morning Prigozhin claims to have the control of the city of Rostov as military wagner personal are seeing in the region with tanks and other military vehicles.
