The Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday accused the Russian military of attacking Wagner positions in Ukraine with missiles and declared war on the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“We are 25,000 strong, and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in Russia,” Prigozhin announced in a message shared on Telegram. “Everyone else is free to join us.”
Prigozhin has long been critical of Russia’s military leaders and frequently expresses his frustrations with them on Telegram. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is often a direct target of his denunciations, and Prigozhin on Thursday accused the defense minister of lying to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Russia’s “colossal” battlefield failures.
According to Prigozhin, the tensions resulted in his troops being attacked on Friday by Russia’s formal military forces.
After the alleged attack, Prigozhin said he’s “declaring war on the Russian Ministry of Defense.”
“PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: The evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped,” he said, according to a translation from the WarTranslated project. “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. 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.”
‼️ ?? ARMY ATTACKS WAGNER!!
— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) June 23, 2023
‼️ A COUP MAY BE UNDERWAY!!
⚡️⚡️⚡️ Prigozhin, announced that a Wagner military base has been ATTACKED by the ?? ARMY!
Saying, the ?? Army “launched rocket attacks on our rear camps. A huge number of soldiers died. We will decide how we will respond… pic.twitter.com/JA2e7hyp3O
The Wagner leader also promised to resume fighting in Ukraine once his battle with the Defense Ministry ends.
“We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers. And we will return to the frontline,” he said. “Justice in the Army will be restored. And after this, justice for the whole of Russia.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied Prigozhin’s claims of an attack. In a statement shared by Kremlin-backed news outlet RIA Novosti, the ministry said, “all of the reports and video footage from Yevgeny Prigozhin circulating on social media and allegedly showing ‘a Defense Ministry strike on Wagner Group rear camps’ do not correspond to reality and are an informational false flag.”
RIA Novosti also reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin is aware of Prigozhin’s declaration and added that “all the necessary measures are being taken.”
Igor Girkin, a former commander in Russia’s military who frequently criticizes how Putin is conducting the Ukraine war, said “a coup attempt is underway.”
“If this isn’t a fake [which it can be], the military coup has started,” Girkin wrote on Telegram. “But if it isn’t a fake, then the situation with the face-off between MoD and Wagner is out of control and needs immediate involvement by the president. If we still have him at all…”
NEWSWEEK
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