Vladimir Putin on Saturday spoke out against the “mortal threat” and threat of a “civil war” posed by paramilitary group Wagner leader Evguéni Prigojine, who openly rebelled against the Russian leadership.
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At 10 a.m. (Moscow time), in a black suit, with a serious expression and a belligerent tone, the Kremlin chief addressed the man who challenged him without naming him, accusing him of “traitors” to the Russian nation and promising to do so “punish her.
“It’s a slap in the back to our country and our people,” Putin said in an address to the nation. […] What awaits us is nothing but betrayal. A betrayal caused by excessive ambition and self-interest [de M. Prigojine].”
Previously, the Wagner boss had claimed to keep the Russian army’s headquarters in Rostov, the nerve center of operations in Ukraine, and to control several military sites.
“We’re on [quartier général]”It’s 7:30 am,” Evgueni Prigojine said in a video on Telegram. “Military sites in Rostov are under control, including the airfield.”
After these statements, Vladimir Putin had to admit that the situation in Rostov was indeed “difficult”.
In response to the uprising, Russian prosecutors announced the opening of an “armed mutiny” investigation into the group, which reportedly launched the uprising with 25,000 men, after accusing the regular army of bombing their troops.
Authorities have stepped up security measures in Moscow, where the “anti-terrorist operational regime” has just been introduced, a direct result of the threat from Prigozhin, who said in an audio message on Telegram: “We’re moving on, we’re going to the…” end” and “We will destroy everything that gets in our way”.
On the Ukrainian side, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was “just the beginning in Russia”.
“The split between the elites is too obvious. Agreeing and pretending everything is settled will not work,” added Mykhaïlo Podoliak on Twitter.
“Ready to die”
“We are all ready to die, all 25,000. And after that it will be another 25,000. Because we are dying for our fatherland, we are dying for the Russian people, who must be liberated from those who bomb civilians,” he had hammered at Prigozhin.
During the night, he announced that he had crossed the border and entered Rostov, the headquarters of the Russian Army’s Southern Command Headquarters, from where military operations in Ukraine are coordinated. He also asserted that his troops shot down a Russian helicopter that “opened fire on a civilian column.”
AFP
He provided no evidence to support these claims, which AFP could not confirm.
The governor of the Rostov region called on the population to “stay at home”, and the Lipetsk region, 420 km south of Moscow, also announced “enhanced security measures”.
Images shared on social networks and online media, the authenticity of which AFP could not confirm, showed several dozen military vehicles cruising around the city of Moscow, near the Defense Ministry and in front of the lower house of parliament, the Duma, meters from the Kremlin.
investigation into mutiny
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.
In several audio messages throughout the day, Wagner’s boss had previously claimed that the Russian attacks had caused “a great many casualties” in his ranks.
“They carried out attacks, rocket attacks, on our rear camps. “A very large number of our fighters were killed,” he said, accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering the attacks.
These allegations “do not correspond to reality and constitute a provocation,” the defense ministry said in a press release.
AFP
The FSB (security forces) called on Wagner’s fighters to arrest their leader. And an influential Russian general, Sergei Surovikin, urged Wagner’s fighters to give up their uprising.
This open war reveals the tensions within the Russian armed forces involved in the Ukraine conflict.
“Those who have military responsibility for the country must be stopped,” said the Wagner boss, calling on the Russians to join his troops or not resist them.
“Even help the devil”
In Washington, the White House said it was closely monitoring the situation.
The Russian opponent in exile and businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has called on Yevgeny Prigoyine to support him in the fight against Vladimir Putin’s regime. “Yes, even the devil would have to help him if he decided to take action against this regime!” he wrote on Telegram.
“There are no military successes,” Moscow’s Prigoyine said on Friday, saying the Russian military is “washing on its blood,” implying that it is 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, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that Ukraine was preparing for an attack from Bakhmout by “exploiting Prigozhin’s provocation”.
In recent days, Mr Putin reiterated that the Ukrainian counter-offensive had failed and that the Kiev forces had suffered near “catastrophic” casualties.
Mr Prigojine described these victorious declarations as “profound deception”.