PUTIN MUST REGRET HE EVER INVADED UKRAINE

Wagner mercenaries storm Russian headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and tanks set up blockade: Prigozhin vows to march on Moscow to take out 'evil' military top brass as Putin says he's inciting CIVIL WAR and Kremlin charges him with armed mutiny

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday declared that his 25,000-strong force has taken control of Russian headquarters in Rostov-on-Don. Prigozhin made the move in fury at what he claimed was Moscow's attack on his men, and said he intends to march to Moscow to take on defense chiefs

 

By Elena Salvoni, christian Oliver, Olivia Jones and Harriet Alexander

 

Daily Mail

June 23, 2023

 

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured speaking on video released by Prigozhin Press Service on Friday), 62, has accused Russia of killing a 'huge number' of its forces in strikes and vowed to retaliate

 

Troops from Russia's Wagner militia appeared to have marched into the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday, leading to fears of a coup led by Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin declared war on Moscow's military leadership and claimed his forces had marched on the city of Rostov 'unopposed'.

The private army boss claimed to have also shot down a Russian military helicopter in the city - home to the Kremlin's headquarters for the war in Ukraine - which 'opened fire on a civilian column'. 

Prigozhin launched his extraordinary action after calling for the ousting of the Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and vowing to punish Russian military leaders - whom he accused of killing 'hundreds' of his mercenaries in an air strike.

He also claimed the Russian military top brass is lying to Vladimir Putin and hiding the bodies of a further 2,000 soldiers to conceal losses in Ukraine.

As his Wagner forces entered Rostov on Friday night, 1,000 miles from Moscow, Prigozhin said they would take 'all necessary steps' to topple the country's military leadership, declaring 'we will destroy anyone who stands in our way... we are moving forward and will go until the end'.

In response, Russian military vehicles were seen on the streets of Moscow. 

In Rostov-on-Don residents have been told to stay in their homes by government officials, but some were seen out observing what was happening, even livestreaming the stand off on their cell phones.

Footage shared on social media appeared to show Wagner troops outside the Southern Military Headquarters - which plays a crucial role in managing the Ukraine war.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute who specializes in Russian defense, said: 'The Telegram channel says there are soldiers in the building and there are up to 300 Wagner fighters in Rostov.' 

More footage showed Wagner troops encircling the Rostov office of the Interior Ministry.

The two buildings are less than half a mile apart. 

Vladimir Putin's spokesperson said the Russian president had been informed of Prigozhin's claims of a march on Moscow, and that 'necessary measures are being taken.' 

Putin has yet to be seen or publicly comment on the uprising. 

The FSB security services earlier said they had opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin and called for his arrest, accusing him of inciting armed insurrection. 

While the realities on the ground remain unclear, the episode appears to be the biggest internal military crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

 

Armoured vehicles were seen on the streets of Moscow tonight outside The Cathedral of Christ the Savior amid fears of a coup

An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is seen on a street of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday night

Armoured vehicles trawl through the street of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don amid coup fears in Russia on Friday 

 

Mick Mulroy, a retired C.I.A. officer and a former Pentagon official, said that  Prigozhin poses 'a serious challenge' to Putin. 

'If Mr Prigozhin's threats materialize, the Russian military may have to refocus its efforts from countering the Ukrainian advance to the Russian government's 'self-preservation',' he said. 

'Even if this attempted coup fails, it emphatically makes the point that those closest to this war know it was a terrible mistake.' 

As Prigozhin said his men were ready to 'go all the way' against Russian military leaders, the state news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying all of the country's security services were reporting to Putin 'round the clock'.

Security was stepped up on Friday night at government buildings, transport facilities and other key locations in Moscow, Russia's TASS news agency reported, citing a source at a security service.

As the standoff between Prigozhin and the defence ministry appeared to come to a head, the ministry issued a statement saying Prigozhin's accusations were 'not true and are an informational provocation'.

Meanwhile, Russian state media had coverage across its front page dedicated to the 'armed rebellion' by the Wagner chief, while Google News was reportedly blocked in the country as the feud intensified.

Prigozhin has said his actions do not amount to a military coup. But in a frenzied series of audio messages, in which the sound of his voice sometimes varied and could not be independently verified, he appeared to suggest that his 25,000-strong militia was en route to oust the leadership of the defence ministry in Moscow.

Prigozhin said: 'Those who destroyed our lads, who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished. I ask that no one offer resistance...

'There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country,' he said, promising to tackle any checkpoints or air forces that got in Wagner's way.

'We will consider anyone who tries to resist a threat and quickly destroy them,' he said.

 

Vladimir Putin (center) speaks with Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov (left) and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (right)

Military personnel and equipment in the center of Moscow and near the Russian MoD

 

Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin had appeared to cross a new line in his increasingly vitriolic feud with the ministry, saying that the Kremlin's rationale for invading Ukraine was based on lies concocted by the army's top brass.

Prigozhin has for months been openly accusing Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, of rank incompetence and of denying Wagner ammunition and support. 

As his violent rhetoric appears to be escalating towards action, the FSB domestic security service said it had opened a criminal case against him for calling for an armed mutiny, a crime punishable with a jail term of up to 20 years.

'Prigozhin's statements are in fact calls for the start of an armed civil conflict on Russian territory and his actions are a 'stab in the back' of Russian servicemen fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces,' the FSB said.

'We urge the ... fighters not to make irreparable mistakes, to stop any forcible actions against the Russian people, not to carry out the criminal and traitorous orders of Prigozhin, to take measures to detain him.'

The Kremlin said Putin had been informed and that 'necessary measures are being taken'.

It is still unclear the full extent of the situation in Russia amid claims and counter claims from both the Russian military command and Wagner PMC.

 

Prigozhin said that the Russian Armed Forces launched a missile attack on PMC Wagner forces

Prigozhin (left) founded a catering company and was once known as 'Putin's chef' - now the Wagner boss appears to be waging war on the Kremlin

An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is seen next to a shopping mall in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday night

A military vehicle appeared to be on the streets of Moscow on Friday evening as Prigozhin called on the Russian National Guard to join his side

 

Army Lieutenant-General Vladimir Alekseyev issued a video appeal in which he asked Prigozhin to reconsider his actions.

'Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority,' he said.

General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine whom Prigozhin has praised in the past, in a separate video urged Wagner to 'stop'.

'The enemy is just waiting for our internal political situation to deteriorate,' said Surovikin.

'Before it is too late, and it must be done, you must submit to the will and order of the people's president of the Russian Federation. 

'Stop the columns and return them to their permanent bases,' he said.

 

 

 

This screen grab from video provided by Ostorozhno Novosti, Saturday, June 24, 2023, reportedly shows a military vehicle driving through a street in Moscow

Armoured vehicles are seen on a street of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia

 

Prigozhin, a one-time Putin ally, in recent months has carried out an increasingly bitter feud with Moscow.

Wagner led Russia's capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, Russia's biggest victory in 10 months, and Prigozhin has used its battlefield success to criticise the leadership of the defense ministry with seeming impunity - until now.

The defence ministry has - until now - largely ignored his criticism, at least in public.

An unverified video posted on a Telegram channel close to Wagner showed the purported scene of an air strike against Wagner forces. 

It showed a forest where small fires were burning and trees appeared to have been broken by force. There appeared to be one body, but no more direct evidence of any attack.

It carried the caption: 'A missile attack was launched on the camps of PMC (Private Military Company) Wagner. Many victims. According to eyewitnesses, the strike was delivered from the rear, that is, it was delivered by the military of the Russian Ministry of Defence.'

 

Pictures shared by the Rostov emergencies telegram appear to show a Russian military presence on the streets 

Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike on Wagner and then 'cowardly' fled. Pictures from Rostov on Friday night

 

On Friday he for the first time he dismissed Putin's core justifications for invading Ukraine on February 24 last year.

'The war was needed ... so that Shoigu could become a marshal ... so that he could get a second 'Hero' [of Russia] medal,' Prigozhin said in a video clip. 

'The war wasn't needed to demilitarise or denazify Ukraine.'

Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner commander who moved to France when Russia invaded Ukraine, told Reuters that Wagner's fighters were likely to stand with Prigozhin.

'We have looked down on the army for a long time ... Of course they support him, he is their leader,' he said.

'They won't hesitate (to fight the army), if anyone gets in their way.'

On the frontlines of Ukraine, the Kremlin that Kyiv was taking advantage of infighting between the Wagner mercenary group and the Russian military to ready an assault near the east Ukraine hotspot of Bakhmut.

'Taking advantage of (Yevgeny) Prigozhin's provocation to disorganize the situation, the Kyiv regime near the Bakhmut front is concentrating units... for offensive actions,' the Russian defence ministry said in a statement carried by news agencies.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Ivan Dedov, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences at a meeting at the Kremlin earlier Friday

The top Russian military commander in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin (left)  talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, December 2022

 

Prigozhin, 62, has ramped up verbal attacks on President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks, including questioning the very need for the bloody war in Ukraine, after months of Wagner PMC bolstering the Russian offensive there. 

Now tensions between Moscow and the private military company are dramatically coming to a head, with Prigozhin declaring: 'The council of commanders of PMC Wagner has made a decision - the evil that the military leadership of the country brings must be stopped.'

The feared Wagner boss launched a scathing attack on Russia's military leadership on Friday, claiming that Putin is being fed lies about 'colossal' battlefield failures in Ukraine by 'mentally ill a**holes' in high command.

The final straw for the furious Wagner leader came on Friday, as he shared a video of what he claimed was the devastation wrought by Russian bombs on the mercenary group's bases - despite them having fought on Putin's side in the war.

He claimed Russia rained bombs down on its own mercenary fighters after he criticised during his expletive-laden rant aimed at the country's top military brass, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, on Telegram.

Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike on Wagner and then 'cowardly' fled.

'This scum will be stopped,' he said, in a reference to Shoigu.

'The evil embodied by the country's military leadership must be stopped,' he shouted, urging the army not to offer any resistance to Wagner as it moves to 'restore justice.'

'We were ready to make concessions to the defence ministry, surrender our weapon's, Prigozhin claimed in the footage.

'Today, seeing that we have not been broken, they conducted missile strikes at our rear camps. A huge number of our fighters, our comrades died,' he said in a series of furious audio messages released by his spokespeople.

Prigozhin said his actions did not amount to a military coup. 

Russia's FSB security services has now launched a criminal probe into calls to stage the 'armed mutiny'.

'In connection with these statements, Russia's FSB has opened a criminal case into calls to stage an armed mutiny,' the National Anti-Terror Committee said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies, which added: 'We demand that illegal actions be immediately halted'.

Prigozhin warned Russians against resisting his forces and called on them to join him, adding 'there are 25,000 of us'.

The deputy commander of Russia's Ukraine campaign, General Sergei Surovikin, on Friday urged the fighters of the Wagner private militia to give up their opposition to the military leadership and return to their bases.

Earlier on Friday, the FSB security service had said comments by Prigozhin vowing to avenge Moscow's purported killing of thousands of his fighters amounted to a call to start an armed civil conflict, the Interfax news agency reported. 

It urged Wagner fighters to arrest him

The Russian defence ministry denied the claims about the strikes, saying the statements 'do not correspond to reality', and calling them a 'provocation'.

'The Russian armed forces continue to carry out combat missions' in Ukraine, the ministry added.

Ukraine appeared to poke fun at the predicament Putin is now facing - warning the Kremlin in a Tweet on Saturday night: 'We are watching.'

Earlier in the day, Prigozhin said Moscow's forces were retreating in Ukraine's east and south following Kyiv's counteroffensive. 

That directly contradicted Putin's account that Ukraine was suffering 'catastrophic' losses and that there was a lull in fighting.

'We are washing ourselves in blood,' Prigozhin said.

'No one is bringing reserves. What they tell us is the deepest deception,' he added, referring to the Russian military and political leadership.

After years of operating in the shadows, Prigozin has in recent months admitted to running the elusive mercenary group and even interfering in US elections.

His forces, bolstered by tens of thousands of prison recruits, played a central role in Russia's capture of the Donetsk region town, Bakhmut, the longest and likely bloodiest battle of the conflict.

However, this week he accused Moscow's top brass of deceiving Russians about the offensive in Ukraine.

'Why did the special military operation begin? ... the war was needed for the self-promotion of a bunch of bastards,' he said.

Rarely has such a controversial figure shot to this degree of prominence on the Russian political stage under Putin.

Prigozhin rose from a modest background to become part of the inner circle around Putin.

He spent nine years in prison in the final period of the USSR after being convicted of fraud and theft. In the chaos of the 1990s, he began a moderately successful business selling hot dogs.

From there he fell into the restaurant business and opened a luxury location in Saint Petersburg whose customers included Putin, then making the transition from working in the KGB to local politics.

However, in recent months, Prigozhin has become embroiled in a bitter power struggle with the defence ministry.

He has accused the Russian military of attempting to 'steal' victories in Ukraine from his forces, and slammed Moscow's 'monstrous bureaucracy' for slowing military gains.

Wagner's presence has been reported in conflict zones including Syria, Libya, Mali, and the Central African Republic, where it has been accused of abuses and capturing state power.