Is it a rebellion against Vladimir Putin or against the Russian generals? Confusion reigns this Saturday, as the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine claimed to have entered Russia with his troops with the aim of overthrowing the military command, saying he was “ready to die” with his 25,000 men to “liberate the people Russian”. The Russian public prosecutor’s office has announced the opening of an investigation for “armed mutiny” against Prigojine, who went into rebellion after accusing the Russian regular army of having bombed his men. Authorities have tightened security measures in Moscow and several other regions of Russia.
On Saturday morning, Prigozhin showed up in a video at Russian military headquarters in the city of Rostov, a key center for Russia’s assault on Ukraine, and taking control of military sites, including an airfield.
“We are at HQ, it is 7:30 a.m.,” Evgueni Prigojine said in a video broadcast on Telegram, “the military sites in Rostov are under control, including the airfield,” he adds, while behind men in uniform are marching towards him.
“We will destroy everything”
“We continue, we will go to the end”, he had launched in a previous audio message on Telegram. “We will destroy everything that gets in our way.” “We are all ready to die, all 25,000. And then there will be another 25,000. Because we die for the fatherland, we die for the Russian people who must be liberated from those who bombard the civilian population,” he continued.
He announced that his forces, so far deployed in Ukraine, had crossed the Russian border and entered the city of Rostov (south). He also assured that his troops had shot down a Russian helicopter which had “opened fire on a civilian column”. He did not provide any proof of these assertions, the veracity of which AFP was unable to confirm.
“Anti-terrorist activities” in Moscow
“Anti-terrorist activities are underway in Moscow with the aim of strengthening security measures”, announced the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin. Images on social media and online media, the authenticity of which AFP could not confirm, showed military vehicles circulating in the city, near the Ministry of Defense, and in position in front of the chamber lower part of Parliament, the Duma, a few dozen meters from the Kremlin.
The governor of the Rostov region called on the population to “stay at home”, and that of Lipetsk, 420 km south of Moscow, also announced “reinforced security measures”.
Investigation for mutiny
Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov informed President Vladimir Putin “of the opening of a criminal investigation in connection with the attempt to organize an armed mutiny”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
In multiple audio messages throughout the day, Wagner’s boss previously claimed that Russian strikes had caused a “very large number of casualties” in his ranks.
“They carried out strikes, missile strikes, on our rear camps. A very large number of our fighters have been killed,” he said, accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering the attacks.
These accusations “do not correspond to reality and are a provocation”, retorted the Ministry of Defense in a press release. The FSB (security forces) called on Wagner’s fighters to arrest their leader. This open war exposes the tensions within the Russian forces engaged in the Ukrainian conflict.
“Those who have military responsibility for the country must be stopped,” also said the boss of Wagner, calling on the Russians not to oppose resistance to his troops, or even to join them.
“Power and Money”
Rival Russian factions began to “devour each other for power and money,” said Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. In Washington, the White House said it was monitoring the situation closely.
Russian opponent in exile and businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has called for support for Yevgeny Prigojine to fight Vladimir Putin’s regime. “Yes, even the devil would have to help him if he decided to go against this regime! (…) If this bandit wants to disturb the other, now is not the time to grimace, now we have to help, ”he wrote on Telegram.
On Friday, Yevgeny Prigojine affirmed that, contrary to Moscow’s assertions, the Russian army was retreating in the areas of Zaporijjia and Kherson (south) as well as in Bakhmout, a city in the East that the Russians claim to have captured but where the Ukrainians say they have progressed on the flanks in recent weeks.
“There are no military successes” from Moscow, Prigojine again scathing, affirming that the Russian military “wash themselves with their blood”, a way of saying that they suffer heavy losses. Unverifiable from an independent source, the words of Wagner’s boss in any case contradict those of Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu, according to whom the Russian army “repels” all Ukrainian attacks.
While many opponents and anonymous Russians are in prison for criticizing the conflict in Ukraine, the leader of Wagner has openly questioned the reasons for which the military intervention was launched. “The war was necessary for a group of bastards to be promoted”, he castigated, also accusing “the Russian oligarchs” who “needed the war”, while Kiev was according to him “ready to not any deal.”