The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Evguéni Prigojine vowed on Saturday to go “to the end” to topple the Russian military command, which he accuses of bombing its men. Prosecutors, for their part, announced an investigation into “army mutiny”.
• Also read: Prigozhin’s seditious statements: the FSB calls for the arrest of the head of the Wagner group
• Also read: A Russian general addresses a grave warning to the Wagner group
• Also read: Wagner boss declares “war” on Russian Defense Ministry.
“We continue, we will go to the end,” Evguéni Prigojine said in an audio message on Telegram. “We will destroy everything that gets in our way,” he added.
He announced that his forces, previously stationed in Ukraine, had “crossed the Russian state border” and entered Rostov in the south of the country. He did not provide any evidence to support these claims and AFP could not confirm the truthfulness of these statements.
Footage is reportedly circulating of Wagner vehicles driving south on the M4 towards Rostov. The traffic corresponds to the current traffic data reports from Google. pic.twitter.com/3kAhpaawjz
—OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 24, 2023
In Moscow, security measures around sensitive locations have been “tightened,” according to a police officer quoted by TASS. The FSB (security forces) called on Wagner’s fighters to arrest their leader.
Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov has informed President Vladimir Putin “about the initiation of criminal investigations in connection with an attempt to organize an armed mutiny,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The head of state is “continuously informed” by the security services, he added.
The Wagner boss had previously claimed that the Russian attacks had claimed “a great many victims” in the ranks of his group.
“They carried out attacks, rocket attacks, on our rear camps. “A very large number of our fighters were killed,” he said in an audio message, accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering the attacks.
These allegations of “alleged” attacks by the Russian Defense Ministry on rear bases of the paramilitary group Wagner “do not correspond to reality and constitute a provocation,” the Russian Defense Ministry replied in a press release.
An influential Russian general, Sergei Surovikin, urged Wagner’s fighters to return to their barracks. “I (you) ask to stop (…) Before it’s too late, we must obey the will and order of the President-elect of Russia,” he said in a video on Telegram.
This open war reveals the deep tensions within the Russian armed forces involved in the Ukraine conflict.
“The Wagner Group leadership committee has decided that those who have military responsibility for the country must be stopped,” Wagner’s boss said in an audio message, not calling for “resistance” to his troops.
He summed it up by claiming there were “25,000” fighters and urging the Russians to “join” them.
“We are 25,000 and we will find out why there is chaos in the country (…) Our strategic reserves are the entire army and the whole country,” Evguéni Prigojine explained in an audio message, demanding “to put an end to the disorder”. .
Rival Russian factions began “devouring each other for power and money,” said Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence.
“We are monitoring the situation and will be discussing these developments with our allies and partners,” said Adam Hodge, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
The Russian army is retreating in several sectors of southern and eastern Ukraine, Wagner’s chief said on Friday, contradicting the Kremlin’s claims that the counteroffensive in Kiev had failed.
“The (Russian) army retreats to the Zaporizhia and Kherson (south) regions, Ukrainian forces are pushing,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview published on Telegram.
“The same thing is happening in Bachmout, the enemy will keep penetrating our defenses,” the businessman added, referring to an eastern town that the Russians are said to have captured but where the Ukrainians say they are making advances on the flanks have done in the last few weeks.
“There is no control, there is no military success” from Moscow, again slamming Mr. Prigoyine and reiterating that Russian soldiers are “washing themselves with their blood”, thereby claiming that they are suffering heavy casualties.
Unverifiable from an independent source, the words of Wagner’s boss contradict those of Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu, according to which the Russian army “fends off” all Ukrainian attacks.
However, after the Wagner chief’s statements, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that Ukraine was preparing an attack on Bachmout’s side, “using Prigozhin’s provocation to destabilize the situation.”
In recent days, Mr Putin reiterated that the Ukrainian counter-offensive had failed and that the Kiev forces had suffered near “catastrophic” casualties.
Mr. Prigoyine called Moscow’s declarations of victory a “profound deception” and accused the General Staff of “hiding” Russian difficulties and casualties on the ground.
While many opponents and anonymous Russians are in prison for criticizing the Ukraine conflict, the Wagner boss is openly questioning the reasons for the military intervention.
“The war was necessary to promote a group of bastards,” he lashed out, also blaming “the Russian oligarchs” who “needed the war,” while he said Kiev was “ready for anything.” What agreement?