Wagner boss Prigozhin has accused the Russian military of having bombed his mercenary force. He called for the “March for Justice”. Moscow denied that the secret service apparently opened criminal proceedings for armed mutiny.
The head of the Russian Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has accused the Russian military leadership of bombing his troops. A “very large” number of Wagner mercenaries were killed by the attacks, he said in a voice message published by his press service in the evening.
The mercenary chief accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering the attacks on Wagner troop camps. “We were ready to make concessions to the Defense Ministry to give up our weapons,” Prigozhin said. Nevertheless, “they carried out rocket attacks on our rear camps”.
The Wagner boss said the “evil” of the military leadership must be stopped and vowed to respond to the attacks. “We are 25,000,” he said of his troops’ fighting strength and called on “everyone who wants to join us” to “put an end to the chaos”. It is not a coup, but a “march for justice”.
Russian secret service opens criminal proceedings
The denial from Moscow came immediately. Prigozhin’s allegations have no connection to reality and are a provocation, the defense ministry said in a statement. According to the state news agency Tass, the Russian secret service FSB opened criminal proceedings against Prigozhin for calling for an “armed mutiny”. According to the Interfax agency, President Vladimir Putin is aware of all events affecting Prigozhin. According to the Kremlin, necessary measures are being taken, reports Interfax.
With the statements, Prigozhin may have gone too far, said ARD correspondent Ina jerk in Moscow in the daily topics. “This is a clear coup threat – not against the president, but against the secretary of defense,” said Ruck. It is unclear whether the statements are true. “All of this can be fictitious, can be true.”
Prigozhin questions the reasons for the war
Throughout the day, Prigozhin had ranted violently against the military leadership in Moscow – and questioned their official reasons for the war. Contrary to Russian propaganda claims, Prigozhin said in a video that Russia was not at all threatened by Ukraine before the war began in February 2022. The alleged “insane aggression” on the part of Kiev and NATO never happened.
“The defense ministry is trying to deceive the president and the public,” said Prigozhin, who has been in an internal power struggle with Shoigu for months. “The military special operation was started for completely different reasons.” Then the Wagner boss added: “The war was necessary for Shoigu to receive the title of Marshal. (…) And not to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” In addition, Russian and pro-Russian oligarchs hoped for benefits from the war, said Prigozhin.
Russia repeatedly justifies its war of aggression with the propaganda claim that it is ridding the neighboring country of alleged “neo-Nazis”. Another pretext for war is the unsupported claim that Kiev intended to use NATO to attack Moscow.
success stories are “total nonsense”
In addition, Prigozhin, whose fighters were recently involved in the capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, also made serious allegations against the Russian army with regard to the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive. The daily success reports about allegedly repelled Ukrainian offensives are “complete, total nonsense”.
According to Prigozhin, the Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive forced Moscow’s troops to retreat in some regions. The Russian army is retreating on the Zaporizhia and Cherson fronts, said Prigozhin – and openly contradicted Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had repeatedly spoken of the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“What they tell us is a bitter deception”
“The armed forces of Ukraine are pushing back the Russian army,” Prigozhin said in online networks. “On the battlefield (…) the Russian army is retreating on the Zaporizhia and Kherson fronts.” With drastic words, the 62-year-old raised harsh allegations against the Russian military leadership: “We wash ourselves in blood. Nobody brings reinforcements. What they tell us is a bitter deception.”
Defense Minister Shoigu wants to gain control of Prigozhin’s Wagner troops. To this end, he recently obliged all voluntary organizations to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense by the end of the month. But Prigozhin refuses. According to the head of the mercenary group, most military units do not have the same efficiency as Wagner.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.