According to Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian missile strike killed dozens of his fighters. Prigozhin swore revenge. The Russian Ministry of Justice calls him a foreign agent, while the FSB wants to put him on trial for rebellion. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was aware of this and that “all necessary measures are being taken”.
In a series of unusual voice messages issued late in the day, Prigozhin appeared to declare war on the Russian military leadership. He said that “the Wagner Council of Leaders has made a decision: the evils that the military leadership has brought to the country must be stopped.”
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“Those who destroyed our boys today, who ruined the lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished. Nobody resists,” said Prigozhin. “Anyone who tries to resist we will consider dangerous and immediately destroyed, including all checkpoints on our way. Every aviation we see in the sky “.
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I ask everyone to remain calm, not to succumb to provocations, and to stay in their homes. The best thing is that those along our path don’t get out. When we finish what we started, we will return to the front line to protect our motherland.
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Prigozhin also posted a video that he says shows the aftermath of a missile attack by the Russian Defense Ministry on Camp Wagner.
We are 25,000 [strijders]”And we will find out the cause of the chaos in the country,” Prigozhin added, urging others to join his fight. “Anyone who wants to participate must participate. We must put an end to this chaos.”
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The Russian Ministry of Defense quickly issued a statement denying Prigozhin’s voice messages as “provocation”.
“All messages and video images circulated on social media on behalf of E. Prigozhin about the ‘alleged attack by the Ministry of Defense on rear camps of PMC Wagner’ do not correspond to reality and are a media provocation,” the Defense Ministry said.
Earlier today, Prigozhin accused Moscow’s leadership of lying to the public about the justifications for invading Ukraine. He denied Moscow’s allegations that Kiev was planning an attack on Russian-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine in February 2022.
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The Russian Ministry of Justice has now placed Prigozhin on a list of foreign agents. The Russian security service, the FSB, opens a criminal case against the Russian mercenary chief for allegedly advocating rebellion against the Russians TASS news agency.
The Russian news agency TASS writes that the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee has demanded Yevgeny Prigozhin (…) “stop illegal actions” and that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has launched an investigation into Mutaller’s recent statements.
“The statements circulated on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin are completely unfounded. In connection with these statements, the Russian Federal Security Service has launched an investigation into a call for armed rebellion. We demand an immediate cessation of illegal actions,” the committee said in a statement.
The RIA Novosti news agency reported that President Putin is “aware” of the situation as it unfolds around Prigozhin. “All necessary measures have been taken,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
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