The Wagner mercenary chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed that a Russian rocket attack killed scores of his fighters, vowing to take “revenge” in an unprecedented escalation of infighting among Russia’s elite.
In a series of extraordinary audio messages released late on Friday, Prigozhin appeared to declare war on the Russian military leadership.
“Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped,” he said.
“Those, who destroyed today our guys, who destroyed tens, tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers will be punished. I’m asking: no one resist,” Prigozhin said.
“Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads,” he added.
“I’m asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside. After we finished what we started, we will return to the frontline to protect our motherland.”
Prigozhin also published a video which he claims shows the aftermath of a rocket attack by the Russian ministry of defence on a Wagner camp.
“We are 25,000 [fighters], and we are going to figure out why the chaos is happening in the country,” Prigozhin added, urging others to join his fight.
“Anyone who wants should join. We need to end this mess,” he said.
It was not immediately clear what Prigozhin’s objectives were and whether his threats were directed at the Kremlin.
“This is not a military coup, this is a march of justice. Our actions do not hinder the armed forces in any way,” the Wagner chief said.
The warlord has been arguing with top military officials for months, singling out the minister of defence, Sergei Shoigu, for battlefield failures.
Russia’s defence ministry quickly issued a statement dismissing Prigozhin’s audio messages as a “provocation”.
“All the messages and video footage distributed on social networks on behalf of E Prigozhin about the alleged ‘strike by the RF Ministry of Defense on the rear camps of PMC Wagner’ do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation,” the defence ministry said.
Earlier in the day, Prigozhin accused Moscow’s leadership of lying to the public about the justifications for invading Ukraine, denying Moscow’s claims that Kyiv was planning to launch an offensive on the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine in February 2022.
More details soon…
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