After the long silence following the march towards Moscow and the subsequent retreat, the head of the Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin he posted on Telegram an audio of 11 minutes in which he gives his version of what happened in the last few days in Russia. Wagner started her march to “express a protest” and “not for pour over the government of the country”, Prigozhin said, rejecting the accusations of having been the protagonist of an attempted coup. The purpose, he explains in the audio, was to prevent the “destruction” of his private military company and hold accountable “those individuals” who “have committed a huge number of errors in the special military operation” in Ukraine.
While rumors abound about his current location (he was allegedly seen at the Green City Hotel in Minsk, Belarusian capital) the founder and leader of the Wagner group says that none of his men have agreed to sign a contract with the defense ministry. So no attempt to overthrow the Russian leadership “however – adds Prigozhin in the audio – the march showed serious security problems throughout Russia”. Arriving near Moscow “it became obvious that a lot of blood would be shed, so we felt that this demonstration was enough”, he added, also underlining that the convoy stopped 200 kilometers from Moscow and “blocked all military infrastructure”. including air bases along its path.
According to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s reconstruction, he and the other Wagner officers had decided to lay down their arms at Rostov on 30 June, however refusing to join the regular armed forces by 1 July, as had been imposed by the Ministry of Defence. But since they have beenbombed“, embarked on the so-called “march of justice” towards Moscow. The Wagner leader also wanted to underline the reaction of the Russians who “were happy” and “greeted” them waving “Russian flags” because civilians saw in his group “support for fight against bureaucracy“, said Prigozhin who also expressed “regret for hitting theRussian aviation”. Six Russian helicopters and a plane were, in fact, shot down by his men. On the other hand, there would be about thirty mercenaries of the Wagner group they have lost his life hit by fire artillery of the Russian Armed Forces. Prigozhin stressed that he decided to stop the advance towards Moscow just after the loss of his men.
In the 11 minutes of audio, there are also references to the Belarusian president’s role as mediator who put an end to the march of militiamen towards Moscow. Alexander Lukashenko he allegedly offered to find a solution “for the continuation of Wagner’s operations in a legitimate jurisdiction,” said the head of the private military company. Prigozhin continued to criticize the Russian military leadership and the management of the war in Ukraine: “If the actions of February 24 had been carried out by a unit trained as the Wagner, the special operation it could have lasted a day“, he stressed.
The Wagner boss in the audio message does not reveal his whereabouts or what his future plans will be. Meanwhile, the press office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also declined to say whether Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus. “We don’t have this information,” was the response to the Russian site’s request Your font. Meanwhile, the Belarusian site That’s it writes that Prigozhin’s two planes are still in Russia. One has been in Moscow since 22 June, while the second, an Embraer Legacy 600 flew from Sunday St.Pietroburgo to southern Russia and then return to St. Petersburg in the evening. Meanwhile, various Telegram channels have reported that Prigozhin is in Minsk. Meanwhile, the Wagner PMC center of Novosibirsk it reopened and resumed its recruitment business, the Russian agency reported Tass. The advertising posters, which had been removed on the day Prigozhin launched his march, were re-affixed at the entrance to the offices. The headquarters of the mercenary company in St. Petersburg “works normally”, wrote Wagner herself in a note released through Telegram. “Despite the events that have taken place, the center continues to operate in normal mode in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation,” the Wagner Group office said in a statement. All this while, according to the independent Belarusian newspaper Verstka, a military camp with the capacity to house 8,000 Wagner mercenaries is being built in Belarus. Work started at Osipovichi200 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, it is specified.