The founder of the Wagner mercenary group accuses the Russian command of carrying out deadly attacks on his fighters’ camps, while the Russian military denies bombing the paramilitary group’s positions, AFP and Reuters report. Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, called for an uprising against the Russian high command, claiming 25,000 men, and calling on Russians, especially soldiers, to join them.
Mercenary Wagner in BahmutPhoto: TASS / ddp USA / Profimedia
Tensions between Wagner and the Russian regular army have been rising since Yevgeny Prigozhin brought stunning new allegations that reveal deep tensions within Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.
04:00Yevgeny Prigozhin accused Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov of ordering air strikes on Wagner columns entering Rostov “among civilian cars,” CNN reports.
“The Chief of the General Staff has just ordered the planes to rise and open fire on moving columns between civilian vehicles and trucks,” Prigozhin said. “He doesn’t care who he kills. Instead of fighting the enemy, they killed their own citizens for a year and a half.
Prigozhin praised the Russian pilots for “refusing to carry out these criminal orders”.
01:30 Security was increased late on Friday at government buildings, transport facilities and other key locations in Moscow, state news agency TASS reported, citing a security service source, Reuters reported.
00:47 The Ukrainian military said on Friday it was “monitoring” the fight between Wagner, the head of a Russian paramilitary group, and the commander of the Russian high command, after the former accused it of deadly attacks on its bases, AFP reported.
“We are watching,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry tweeted, while Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Khrylo Budanov believes rival Russian factions “have begun to devour each other for power and money.”
00:40 Sergei Churovikhin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press, calls on Wagner fighters to “obey the supreme commander”.
On the orders of the Ministry of Defence, I have come back from the front line where our forces, our commanders, our soldiers, our volunteers have fulfilled their mission and are fighting to the death with superior forces of the enemy and taking casualties. But perseveres in the ranks”, Surovikhin said in a hastily shot video clip of the Russian general sitting awkwardly at a table with his back against a white wall, with what appears to be an automatic rifle on his right leg.
“I appeal to the leadership, commanders and soldiers of PMC Wagner: Together with you, we have traveled the difficult path. Together with you, we have fought, we have taken risks, we have suffered losses, but together we have won. We are of one blood. We are warriors.
Please stop. The enemy is waiting for our domestic political situation to deteriorate. We should not play the enemy’s game at this critical time for the country.
Before it is too late we must: submit to the will and command of the President elected by the people of the Russian Federation. Stop the columns and return them to their permanent positions and concentration points.
“All issues should be resolved civilian only under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces,” Surovikhin said.
General “Armageddon” Surovikin posted a video urging Wagner to “obey the supreme commander.”
“On the order of the Ministry of Defence, I returned from the zero line, where our forces, our commanders, our soldiers, volunteers are carrying out the mission, fighting … pic.twitter.com/oUgGWmlHsI
— Dimitri (@wartranslated) June 23, 2023
00:35 Pictures of armored vehicles in action near the State Duma in Moscow:
00:28Reuters writes that the Federal Security Service (FSB) is asking the fighters of the Wagner Group not to follow Prigozhin’s criminal and treasonous orders, but to take action to arrest him, according to Ifax.
According to the FSB, Chairman Wagner’s comments were a call to start an internal armed conflict in Russia.
00:22Nexta reports that authorities in Moscow are on alert for troop movements in Russia, and filters have been installed on the main road from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow.
At the same time, Russian authorities launched a search at the headquarters of the Wagner mercenary group in St. Petersburg.
23:46A Russian military blogger visited a Wagner base shortly before it was said to be the target of a Russian attack, Bellingate writes. The location of this Wagner base is still unclear, but the content of the Wagner video and a clip of a military blogger posted earlier in the day indicate that it is in occupied Ukrainian territory.
11:44 p.mSeveral armored vehicles and military vehicles appeared on the streets of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, located about 80-90 kilometers from the border with Ukraine and the Donbass region, on Friday night.
11:30 p.mAn independent news site Vyorsyka, quoted The Moscow Times, wrote that relatives could not reach Wagner fighters following Prigozhin’s statements Friday night. Meanwhile, relatives are said to have written on internet chat groups that the militants had called the previous day to “say goodbye”.
“Yesterday several boys called to say their goodbyes. Many of them asked to watch the news,” said a relative.
“Soon our people will be designated as terrorists,” said another relative, adding that the mercenary group is planning some sort of armed operation.
1/ Wagner Group fighters have spent the last 24 hours saying goodbye to their relatives and told them to watch the TV news, which suggests that they may have known in advance of today’s dramatic events with Yevgeny Prigozhin. pic.twitter.com/BpwKTCfQPJ
— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) June 23, 2023
23:00The founder said Friday that his call for action against the Russian military was not a military coup, but a “march for justice.”
“This is not a military coup,” Prigozhin said in a series of audio recordings posted on Telegram. “This is a march for justice. Our actions will not disturb the soldiers in any way.”
Prigozhin also accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering the bodies of 2,000 Wagner fighters to be hidden in a morgue in southern Russia.
10:56 p.m Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin for calling for an armed uprising, according to TASS.
10:45 p.m President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on the situation surrounding Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s statements, said Ria Novosti, press secretary of Head of State Dmitry Peskov.
“President Putin has been informed of all events surrounding Prigozhin. Necessary measures are being taken,” he said.
10:21 p.m Without elaborating, Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military of killing his fighters on Friday and vowed to stop the “evil” of the military leadership.
Prigogy’s full message “Declares War on Russian Defense Ministry:
“The PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought about by the country’s military leadership must stop.
They ignore the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word “justice” and we … pic.twitter.com/1tCXPVn07p
— Dimitri (@wartranslated) June 23, 2023
In a series of audio messages on his official Telegram channel, Prigozhin said the “evil” of the Russian military leadership “must be stopped”:
- “Those who destroyed our boys who destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers will be punished. I request no one to resist.
- “We are 25,000 and we will determine why there is chaos in the country (…) Our strategic reserves are the whole army and the whole country,” Prigozhin said in an audio message, “to ‘end the chaos’ before appealing to anyone who wants to join.”
Details of what happened are now emerging, he said: “The Minister of Defense came to Rostov specifically to carry out an operation to destroy the Wagner company.
Channels associated with the Wagner group shared video footage showing the aftermath of a Russian attack on mercenary positions in Ukraine.
Channels linked to Wagner reported that their camp had been hit by a massive rocket attack. According to reports from Wagner’s militia, the attack was launched from the rear. This means that the Russian Federation forces will be behind the attack. Needs verification but sounds epic. pic.twitter.com/DMLHpn6hQJ
— NOELREPORTS \uD83C\uDDEA\uD83C\uDDFA \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6 (@NOELreports) June 23, 2023
The Defense Ministry quickly issued a statement calling Prigogine’s allegations “untrue and an information challenge.”
“The messages and videos published by E. Prigozhin on social networks regarding the attacks allegedly carried out by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the rear bases of the Wagner paramilitary group are untrue and provocative,” the Defense Department said.
Prigozhin said the invasion of Ukraine was based on lies
Earlier, mercenary company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Friday that the Kremlin’s justification for invading Ukraine was based on lies invented by his opponent, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
- “Nothing out of the ordinary happened on February 24… The Ministry of Defense is trying to deceive the public and the President, telling us a story about how this is a crazy invasion from Ukraine, and they plan to attack us all over. of NATO,” he told Prigogine, calling the official version “a beautiful story.”
- “It took a battle…so Shoigu could become a marshal…so he could earn his second “Hero” Medal. [al Rusiei]. War is not necessary for the militarization or destruction of Ukraine.”
Moscow could have reached an agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the war, he said, adding that the conflict had been disastrous for Russia and that tens of thousands of lives, including members of Russia’s most capable armed forces, had been needlessly sacrificed.
Depicting senior officers as idiots drowning in vodka and brandy and caviar, he argued that Russia’s war effort was hampered by corruption.
“We bathe in our own blood,” he said. “Time is running fast.”
Follow the latest developments on the 485th day of the war in Ukraine in LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.
“Evil gamer. Amateur music trailblazer. Alcohol geek. Problem solver. Coffee advocate. Troublemaker. Infuriatingly humble zombieaholic.”