Yevgeny Prigozhin – head of Wagnerthe most powerful group of Russian mercenaries – returns to spread accusations against Mosca on Telegram. And it calls for a war against Moscow. The mercenary leader accused the Russian army of attacking the military camps of its militiamen, killing an “enormous” number of fighters. According to Prigozhin, the attacks were ordered by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “They carried out attacks, rocket attacks, on our rear camps. A very large number of our fighters were killed,” Prigozhin said in an audio message broadcast by his press service, promising to “respond” to these bombings. Prigozhin appealed to “stop” the russian military command, claiming to have 25,000 men and inviting Russians, especially soldiers, to join them. “The Wagner group has decided that those with military responsibilities for the country must be stopped,” Prigozhin said on audio, asking not to offer “resistance” to his troops and stating that Defense Minister Shoigu will be “stopped”. “We are 25,000 and we will determine why chaos reigns in the country (…) “, he added, appealing to “anyone who wants to join us” to “put an end to the disorder”. The head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said his call to stop Russia’s military leadership was not “a military coup”, but an effort to restore “justice”. “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice, our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way,” he said in an audio message broadcast by his press service.
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This by Prigozhin is not the first outburst of very strong tones against Russia and in particular against the defense minister, but this time the national anti-terrorism committee in Moscow has opened a criminal case “for invitation to armed rebellion” after his statements. Russia’s National Counter-Terrorism Committee calls on Wagner’s boss “to stop illegal actions”. Moscow has denied the attacks on mercenaries: “The news of Russian military attacks on Wagner’s rear are false, informative provocations” as reported by Interfax. Always during the day Prigozhin in a video of 30 minutes railed against the military summit of the country, accused of continuing to “fool” the Russian people on the justifications that led Moscow to launch theinvasion dell’Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin was “informed about the situation around Prigozhin, the necessary measures are being taken”. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov after threats from Wagner’s boss, as reported by Tass.
Prigozhin still today rejected claims by Moscow that Kiev was planning to launch aoffensive on Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine in the February 2022. “Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the eve of February 24,” Prigozhin said, adding that “the Ministry of Defence is trying to deceive the public and the president by telling the story that they have been there insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they would attack us together with the entire bloc of the Nato“. In fact, Wagner’s boss said “Kiev did not bomb the Donbass for 8 years, only the Russian positions. And the special operation was launched for a completely different reason. Prigozhin finally added that the Russian leadership could have avoided the war negotiating with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Again this time he returns to point the finger at the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, which in the past Wagner’s boss himself had defined as “incapable”, “incompetent” and “corrupt”. Always avoiding attacking the president of the Russian Federation: in his interpretation Putin too would, in fact, be the victim of this “deception”. Prigozhin adds that “the second world army” is one air bubble erupted after the invasion of Ukraine. The head of the pro-Kremlin mercenary group also said that Russian troops would be withdrawing to the areas of Zaporizhzhia e Khersonas reported by the online newspaper Medusa. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine are pressing on the Russian army, we are washing ourselves with blood, no one gives reserves, there is no control,” she said. At the same time, the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, according to Prigozhin, “still hope that they can win this war“. “But since there is no management, there are no military successes, the Defense Ministry leadership is carefully deceiving the president,” Prigozhin concluded.
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