Prigozhin says Moscow strikes kill ‘huge’ number of Wagner troops, vows to ‘stop’ VIPs

The Moscow Times brings together the latest news and developments about Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group.

While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of our reports, claims and counter-allegations are sometimes not possible to verify.

The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner on Friday accused the country’s military leadership of ordering strikes on the group’s camps and killing a “huge” number of troops.

In an extraordinary declaration against the Defense Ministry, with which he has been sparring publicly for months, Yevgeny Prigozhin vowed to “stop” Russia’s top military officers and urged Russian citizens to remain calm.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov He said that President Vladimir Putin was aware of the “development of the situation” around Prigozhin and that “all necessary measures” had been taken.

Russia’s Federal Security Agency (FSB) has brought criminal charges against Prigozhin for “incitement to an armed uprising,” prosecutor’s office He said late Friday.

The charges are punishable by between 12 and 20 years in prison.

“We were ready to make concessions to the Ministry of Defense, to hand over our weapons,” Prigozhin said in an angry audio message released by his spokesmen.

“Today, seeing that we were not broken, they launched missile strikes on our rear camps.”

He vowed to “stop” Moscow’s military high command and called on the Russians not to resist his forces.

In the audio message, Prigozhin said that “the council of Wagner leaders has made a decision – the evil that the military leadership is bringing to the country must be stopped,” and urged the Russians to remain calm.

“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to look into why there is such a complete anarchy in the country.”

After speculation online of his previous comments that he had effectively declared an armed insurrection against the Russian army, Prigozhin He said: “This is not a coup. It is the march of justice. Our actions do not hinder [regular Russian] soldiers at all.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Prigozhin’s remarks “do not correspond to reality” and described it as a “provocation”.

The ministry added that “the Russian armed forces continue to carry out combat missions” in Ukraine.

“Most of the army enthusiastically supports us, and letters come in saying ‘Thank you, justice will finally be done in the army,’” Prigozhin said. He said In another audio message posted to Telegram.

iStories Investigative Media mentioned Police in the southern Rostov region, where Prigozhin said Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is, have been put on high alert.

It appears that the videos and photos shared online by local media Displays Military and police vehicles line the streets of the regional capital, Rostov-on-Don.

Baza Telegram channel mentioned The streets of Rostov-on-Don are closed to traffic.

Astra and VChK-OPGU Telegram channels mentionedciting unidentified sources, that the Moscow security forces were Developed High alert. The officers were reportedly instructed to “stay in touch and not go anywhere”.

Prominent pro-war military blogger Rebar He said However, law enforcement authorities were put on high alert Thursday to search for “sleeper cells and Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” not in response to Prigozhin’s remarks.

Horror and confusion spread across Russia’s pro-war Telegram channels, with some famous commentators prognosis that Prigozhin may have sowed the seeds of a civil war, while others invite him subscribers to pray.

Multiple independent news outlets mentioned That the Russian state media was banned Who mentioned any of Prigozhin’s statements. These reports could not be independently verified.

Independent media outlet Forceca mentioned Relatives of the Wagner fighters were allegedly unable to reach them after Prigozhin’s remarks on Friday night, writing in online chat groups the day before their calls to “say goodbye”.

Yesterday, several men called to say goodbye. “Many of them said to watch the news,” a relative was quoted as saying.

“almost [loved ones] Another relative said, indicating that the mercenary group was planning some kind of armed operation.

stories mentioned That the Kremlin was already aware Prigozhin was “planning something” as early as last week.

“The presidential administration is in a state of panic, and it is not ruling out the possibility of a civil war,” iStories quoted a Kremlin source as saying following Prigokhin’s remarks on Friday night.

But while military vehicles are driving through the streets of Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin is just released Video clip of Putin delivering a message on Youth Day.

This story is being updated.

AFP contributed to the report.