The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has promised to “go all the way” to overthrow the Russian military leadership hours after the Kremlin accused him of “armed rebellion.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin said that his Wagner fighters had crossed the border from Ukraine into Russia, entering the city of Rostov-on-Don.
Prigozhin claimed that his men would destroy anyone who got in their way. The local governor urged citizens to remain calm and stay in their homes.
Prigozhin claimed that his forces had shot down a Russian military helicopter that “opened fire on a civilian convoy.” He did not specify the location, and it was not possible to immediately verify his claim from him.
The Wagner Group is a private mercenary army that has been fighting alongside the Russian regular army in Ukraine.
In recent months, Prigozhin has harshly criticized the Russian military leadership.
On Friday, the 62-year-old mercenary leader accused the army of launching a deadly missile attack on his troops and vowed to punish them. He did not provide evidence.
The authorities have denied the attack and demanded that he end his “illegal actions.”
Prigozhin affirmed that “evil” must end in the Russian military leadership and promised to “march for justice.”
“Those who killed our boys and tens of thousands of Russian soldier’s lives [in the Ukraine war] will be punished,” he said in an audio message posted on the Telegram social media platform.
«I ask you not to resist. Anyone who does will be considered a threat and destroyed. That goes for any checkpoint and aviation on our way.
“The presidential power, the government, the police and the Russian guard will work as usual.
“This is not a military coup but a march for justice. Our actions do not interfere in any way with the troops.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is receiving 24-hour updates on the situation, his spokesman said.
Security was tightened on Friday night at major locations in Moscow, including government buildings and transport facilities, Russian state news agency TASS reported. Russia’s Lipetsk region governor has also asked residents not to travel south.
Lipetsk is about 280 km northeast of the nearest Ukrainian border and more than 500 km north of Rostov.
Igor Artamonov stated on Telegram that security measures are being strengthened in the region, with special attention to the protection of critical infrastructures. In a tweet late on Friday, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry simply said: “We are watching.”
The White House said it was monitoring the situation and would consult with US allies.
General Sergei Surovikin, deputy head of Russian forces in Ukraine, whose leadership Prigozhin has praised in the past, asked him to “stop the convoys and return them to their bases.”
“We are of the same blood, we are warriors,” he said in a video. “You must not play the enemy’s game at a difficult time for our country.”
Another high command, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, described the actions of Wagner’s boss as “a stab in the back to the country and the president.”
Russian state media reported that the FSB, Russia’s security service, has opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, accusing him of “calling for armed rebellion” and attempting to start an armed civil conflict in Russia.
The FSB has also reportedly called on Wagner’s fighters to disobey their orders and take action to arrest him.
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that “all Prigozhin’s reports spread on social media” about Russian attacks on Wagner camps “are not true and constitute an informational provocation.”
It comes after a video message in May in which Prigozhin appeared surrounded by the corpses of his troops and reproached Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for not providing them with enough ammunition.
On Friday, he declared that the war in the Ukraine had been started “so that Shoigu could become a marshal.”
“The Defense Ministry is trying to mislead the public, mislead the president and tell the story that there was a crazy aggression by Ukraine, that – together with the entire NATO bloc – Ukraine was planning to attack us,” he said.
BBC News
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