The head of the Wagner mercenary group said on Saturday that he had crossed the border into Russia with his forces to overthrow Moscow’s army leadership and that he and his 25,000 soldiers were “ready to die”.
“All of us are ready to die. All 25,000. And then another 25,000,” Yevgeny Prigozhin (62) said in a voicemail after he had earlier accused the Russian army leaders of carrying out attacks on his men.
“We die for the Russian people.”
In response, Russian authorities said security in several regions had been stepped up. The mayor of Moscow also announced that counter-terrorism measures were being taken in the city.
The FSB security service accused Prigozhin of trying to foment “civil conflict” and he asked Wagner soldiers to arrest their head.
“We will destroy everything that stands in our way,” Prigozhin said earlier in the most daring challenge to pres. Vladimir Putin since the attack in Ukraine was launched last year.
Prigozhin says his forces, which led several of Russia’s attacks in Ukraine, entered the southern Russian region of Rostov and also shot down a Russian army helicopter.
He provided no evidence for this and AFP could not independently confirm the allegations.
The authorities in Rostov have meanwhile warned residents to stay at home.
“Law enforcement agencies are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of residents,” Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said.
Videos and photos shared online, including by TASS, show armed men surrounding administrative buildings in Rostov and tanks deployed in the city center. However, it is not clear who the armed forces are.
In Moscow, important institutions were placed under “increased protection”, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov also informed Putin about the “initiation of a criminal case in connection with an attempt to start an armed rebellion”, said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin. According to him, Putin is continuously kept informed of events.
Missile attacks
The extraordinary developments come after Prigozhin accused Moscow of targeting its forces with missile strikes that have already killed “a large number of our fighters”.
“The council of commanders of PMC Wagner has made a decision – the mischief caused by the army leaders of the country must be stopped,” Prigozhin said in a series of angry voicemails released by his spokesman.
He also warned Russians not to oppose his forces and asked them to join those forces instead.
“We have to put an end to this mess. This is not a coup, but a march of justice.”
The FSB said in a statement that Prigozhin’s statements and actions are indeed a call to start an armed civil uprising on Russian territory and are backstabbing of the Russian soldiers fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces.
stop now
The Russian Department of Defense has denied Prigozhin’s claims of an attack on his forces and says it is not in line with reality. The department later said that Ukrainian soldiers were exploiting the infighting to prepare for an attack in the vicinity of Bakhmut.
A prominent Russian general also asked Prigozhin to stop his efforts to depose the army leaders.
“I appeal to you to stop,” Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russia’s aerospace forces, said in an unusual video message.
“It is necessary before it is too late to obey the will and order of the elected president of the Russian Federation.”
However, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, urged Russians to support Prigozhin and said it was acceptable to support “even the devil” to fight the Kremlin.
However, experts believe that the Wagner chief’s attempts to kick out the army leaders will “probably not succeed”.
Prigozhin said on Friday that Moscow’s forces were falling back in southern and eastern Ukraine after the start of Kiev’s counterattacks earlier this month. This contradicted Putin’s version that Ukraine was suffering “catastrophic” losses.
“We washed ourselves in blood,” Prigozhin said.
“No one is bringing reserve forces. What they tell us is the deepest deception.”
Question army operation
After years in the shadows, Prigozhin has now admitted to running the elusive mercenary group Wagner and even meddling in US elections.
His forces, bolstered by thousands of soldiers recruited from prisons, played a central role in Russia’s takeover of Bakhmut in the longest and bloodiest battle of the conflict.
However, he accused Moscow’s top army chiefs this week of misleading Russians about the attack on Ukraine.
“Why did the special military operation start?” he asked. “The war was necessary for the self-promotion of a bunch of tin dishes.”
