The owner of private military company Wagner made his most direct challenge yet to the Kremlin, calling for an armed uprising to overthrow Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately and demanded the arrest of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin takes the threat, security measures have been tightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don, where Russia’s military headquarters for the southern region is located and where fighting in Ukraine is also being monitored.
While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared to further hamper Moscow’s war effort as Kiev forces probed Russian defenses in the early stages of a counteroffensive. The dispute, particularly if Prigozhin succeeds, could also affect President Vladimir Putin and his ability to maintain a united front.
Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his troops entered Russia from Ukraine and reached Rostov. He said they encountered no resistance from young conscripts at the checkpoints and that his troops “would not fight children”.
“But we will crush anyone who stands in our way,” he said in a series of angry video and audio footage posted to social media beginning late Friday. “We’ll keep going and we’ll hold out until the end.”
He claimed that the Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, used warplanes to attack Wagner’s convoys, which were traveling alongside ordinary vehicles. Prigozhin also said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that was firing at a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation.
And despite Prigozhin’s statement that Wagner convoys had arrived in Rostov-on-Don, there was still no confirmation of this on Russian social networks. Videos posted online showed armored vehicles, including tanks, stationed in the streets and troops taking up positions. However, it was unclear whether they were under Wagner or military command. Previously, heavy trucks were seen blocking highways leading into the city and long convoys of National Guard trucks could be seen on one road.
The governor of the northern Voronezh region informed residents that a column of military vehicles was moving along the main road and advised them to stay off the road.
Prigozhin said Wagner camps in Ukraine were hit by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from Gerasimov after a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which a decision was made to destroy Wagner.
Wagner’s forces played a crucial role in the Russian war in Ukraine and managed to capture the city of Bakhmut, where the bloodiest and longest battles took place. But Prigozhin increasingly criticizes Russia’s military leadership, accusing it of incompetence and the lack of weapons and ammunition for its troops.
Prigozhin, who said he had 25,000 troops under his command, said his troops would punish Shoigu with an armed uprising and urged the army not to resist: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”
The National Counter-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Service (FSB), accused him of inciting an armed uprising, which could be punished with up to 20 years in prison.
The FSB called on Wagner’s contract soldiers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders”. She described his comments as “a stab in the back of Russian troops” and said they amounted to incitement to armed conflict.
Putin was informed about the situation and “all necessary measures were taken,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Heavy military trucks and armored vehicles were sighted in several parts of central Moscow early on Saturday, and soldiers with assault rifles were on duty in front of the main building of the Defense Ministry. The area around the presidential administration near Red Square was closed and there were traffic delays.
But despite the increased military presence, downtown bars and restaurants were packed with customers. At a club near the FSB headquarters, people were dancing in the street near the entrance.
Moscow’s mayor announced on Saturday morning that counter-terrorism measures were underway, including increased street patrols and possible restrictions on mass gatherings.
Prigozhin, whose dispute with the defense ministry dates back years, has refused to comply with demands that military contractors sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. In a statement late Friday, he said he was willing to find a compromise, but “they have deceitfully betrayed us.”
“Today they launched a rocket attack on our rear camps and a large number of our comrades were killed,” he said. The Ministry of Defense denied an attack on the Wagner camps.
Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu personally went to the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don to direct the attack and then “cowardly” fled.
“The evil that embodies the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he cried.
Colonel-General Sergey Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian force group fighting in Ukraine, urged the Wagner troops to stop any move against the army, saying this would play into the hands of the enemies of Russia who are “waiting to wait.” . Aggravation of our domestic political situation.”
Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst, predicted that this would mean the end of Prigozhin.
“Once the state has actively engaged there is no turning back,” she tweeted. “The departure of Prigozhin and Wagner is imminent. The only option now is absolute annihilation, the only variable being the level of resistance from the Wagner group. Surovikin was dispatched to persuade them to surrender. A confrontation seems completely pointless.”
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, a senior military officer, described Prigozhin’s actions as “madness” that threatened civil war.
“It’s a stab in the back of the country and the President. … Such a provocation could only be staged by enemies of Russia,” he said.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine was concentrating its troops for an attack around Bakhmut to take advantage of “Prigozhin’s provocation”. Russian artillery and fighter jets were said to have fired on Ukrainian forces as they prepared an offensive.
In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War said it appeared that “Prigozhin fully intends Wagner to take action against the Defense Department leadership and forcibly remove them from power, more likely against the Rostov-based Southern Military District command on the Don, but possibly also.” against Moscow.”
It added that despite Putin’s support for Prigozhin, Putin would most likely not accept an armed uprising: “The violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would irreparably damage the stability of Putin’s supposed takeover.”
At the White House, National Security Councilman Adam Hodge said, “We are monitoring the situation and will consult with allies and partners on these developments.”
Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at the CAN research group in Arlington, Virginia, tweeted that Prigozhin’s actions struck him as “a desperate act, although much depends on whether Prigozhin is alone or whether other significant figures join him.” I am skeptical whether this will end well for him or Wagner.”
In Kiev on Saturday, at least two people were killed and eight injured in a Russian missile attack when falling debris caused a fire on several floors of a 24-story apartment building in a central district, Serhii Popko, the city’s military administration head, posted on Telegram.
He said more than 20 missiles had been detected and destroyed. Video from the crime scene showed a fire in the building’s upper floors and the parking lot littered with ash and debris.
As the war ensued, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged other countries to heed warnings that Russia might be planning an attack on an occupied nuclear power plant to trigger a radiation disaster.
Members of his government informed international representatives about the possible threat to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, whose six reactors have been shut down for months. Zelenskyi said he expected other nations to “give the appropriate signals and put pressure” on Moscow.
The Kremlin spokesman has denied that the power plant is threatened by Russian forces.
The possibility of a life-threatening release of radiation has been a concern since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year and seized the power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The head of the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency tried for months to negotiate the establishment of a containment perimeter to protect the facility amid repeated shelling of surrounding areas, but was unsuccessful.
The International Atomic Energy Agency noted on Thursday that “the military situation has become increasingly tense” as a Ukrainian counter-offensive began this month in Zaporizhia province, where the namesake nuclear power plant is located, and in a neighboring part of Donetsk province.
