Wagner chief launches coup against Russia’s military leaders

[bsnub]

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary Wagner group, has called for a coup against Russia’s military leaders, saying he had 25,000 fighters ready to “end this mess.”

Russian soldiers across the country were put on high alert on Friday night after Prigozhin urged citizens to stay inside and threatened to march on the Kremlin.

The Wagner group chief issued the call after accusing Russian generals of carrying out on airstrike on his fighters in Ukraine. He said “huge number” had been killed but provided no evidence.

The FSB, Russia’s main intelligence service, said that it had opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, once considered one of Vladimir Putin’s most trusted fixers, and declared him to be a “foreign agent”.

The case accuses Prigozhin of launching an “armed rebellion inside Russia”. The FSB added: “This is punishable with between 12 and 20 years in prison.”

It also called on Wagner group members to ignore Prighozin and arrest him if they could.

In his Telegram audio message calling for an overthrow of Russian military leaders, Prighozin said: “The commanders’ council of the Wagner Private Military Company has reached a decision.

“The evil that the country’s military leadership perpetuates must be stopped.

“I ask you not to resist. Anyone who does will be considered a threat and destroyed. That goes for any checkpoints and aviation on our way.”

“Presidential power, the government, the police and Russian guard will work as usual.

“This is not a military coup, but a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way.”

“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out what this chaos is happening in the country,” he said in a later update. “Anyone who wants to join can. We need to end this mess.”

In the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said that the Russian leader was aware of “the situation around Prigozhin”.

Later reports said that Putin’s motorcade was seen speeding through Moscow to the Kremlin from his residence in the suburbs of the capital.

General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy head of the armed forces in Ukraine, called on Mr Prigohzin to ‘stop the convoys and return them to their bases.”

“Together we have been on a difficult path,” Gen Surovikin said. “We fought together, took risks, suffered losses and won together. We are the same blood. We are warriors. I urge you to stop.

“The enemy is just waiting for the internal political situation in our country to deteriorate. You can’t play into the hands of the enemy in these difficult times for our country.”

News reports also said that an emergency plan called “krepost”, or fortress, had deployed Russian soldiers around the capital and to strategic locations.

While Mr Prighozin was careful to say he was not launching a coup against president Putin, without control of the armed forces the Russian leader would be profoundly weakened and at risk of being deposed.

In Rostov, a large city in the south of Russia that the Russian top military command have been using as their base, armoured personnel carriers were seen guarding street corners.

Prigozhin is a fierce critic of Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Defence Minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the military.

He said that he wanted to avenge the ordinary Russian soldiers who have been killed by incompetent leadership since the start of the invasion of Ukraine last February.

Russia has lost an estimated 220,000 men in the war.

Prigozhin has been highly visible in Russia’s regions over the past few weeks since withdrawing from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine where his forces captured the town of Bakhmut.

He has given a series of talks about the war, focusing on his criticism of Mr Shoigu.

And on Friday evening, he accused Mr Shoigu of ordering the Russian military to shell a Wagner camp and published a video of what he said was the remains of the destroyed camp.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defence denied this.

“All the messages and video frames distributed on social networks on behalf of Prigozhin about the alleged strike by the Russian Ministry of Defence on the rear camps of Wagner do not correspond to reality,” it said.

War in Ukraine ‘based on lies’

Earlier on Friday Prigozhin claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was based on lies that the country was a threat to Moscow and its citizens.

In an explosive video, he dismantled the case Vladimir Putin has offered for the war that has killed or wounded more than 220,000 Russian soldiers.

While the outspoken Wagner commander has often criticised the conduct of Russia’s defence ministry, he has not previously attacked the central planks of Moscow’s propaganda.

“The Ministry of Defence deceived the president and the public, telling them that there was insane aggression from Ukraine and that they were going to attack us with the entire Nato bloc,” Prigohzin said.

The Wagner founder claimed instead that the war was motivated by the personal ambition of his longtime foe Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, and the avarice of Russian oligarchs.

“The war was needed by Shoigu to become a Marshal not in order to return Russian citizens to our bosoms and not in order to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine,” he said.

“The oligarchs needed the war. This is the clan that manages Russia today. And the second part of the operation was to install Medvedchuk as Ukraine’s president,” he said in a reference to Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russia oligarch who is also a close friend of Putin.

Prigohzin, despite his repeated broadsides at the defence ministry, has refrained from criticising the Russian president, often instead portraying him as misled by his underlings.

Yet his latest assertion directly contradicts the rationale for the war proclaimed by Putin, who said when sending his tanks into Ukraine that it was to demilitarise and “denazify” a country that posed a threat to Russia.

It is a narrative that Russian authorities defend with fines or prison terms for those deemed to have spread “falsehoods” about the war.

There was no response to those claims from the Defence Ministry, which has ignored previous complaints from Prigozhin, in public at least. Nor was there any immediate reaction from the Kremlin, which has also declined in the past to comment on Prigozhin’s outbursts.

Putin has, however, backed a Defence Ministry order, which Prigozhin opposes, that mercenary groups like Wagner must sign contracts putting themselves under ministry control by July 1.

On Thursday, Prigozhin had accused the top brass of lying to Putin and the Russian people about the scale of Russian losses and setbacks in Ukraine.

In Friday’s video, he said Moscow could have struck a deal with Volodymr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, before the war, that the conflict had been a disaster for Russia, and that tens of thousands of young lives had been sacrificed needlessly, including members of Russia’s most capable forces.

Portraying the top brass as vodka- and cognac-swilling fools who lunch on caviar, he alleged the Russian war effort was being hobbled by corruption.

“We are bathing in our own blood,” he said. “Time is running out fast.”

Igor Girkin, a staunchly pro-war nationalist blogger who is accused of committing war crimes in Donbas in 2014, called Prigozhin an enemy of Russia after watching the interview.

“Prigozhin should have been brought to a military tribunal for a lot of things. Now also for betrayal,” he said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...eny-prigozhin/

[pickel]

Igor Girkin, a staunchly pro-war nationalist blogger who is accused of committing war crimes in Donbas in 2014, called Prigozhin an enemy of Russia after watching the interview.

“Prigozhin should have been brought to a military tribunal for a lot of things. Now also for betrayal,” he said.

Girkin has said a lot of the same things Prigozhin has recently, so that statement is a bit odd.

Maybe Putin thinks Prigozhin is the only one that will let him retire in peace when it all goes tits up.

[DrWilly]

Is this the beginning of the end for putin?

[bsnub]

Is this the beginning of the end for putin?

Hard to say what is going on. Reports that a column of Wagner troops are moving towards Moscow. Apparently he is going after ruzzian MOD, not Putin. Should get spicy as he has 25,000 troops going with him.

Girkin has said a lot of the same things Prigozhin has recently, so that statement is a bit odd.

Girkin would love to see Prigozhin out of the way, he most likely looks to him as a competitor.

[bsnub]

Russian authorities stepped up security in Moscow and issued an arrest warrant for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner paramilitary group, on charges of mutiny after he called on his troops to oust the country’s military leadership.

Prigozhin, a one-time confidant of President Vladimir Putin, called for retaliation after claiming that the Russian military killed “an enormous amount” of his troops in Friday’s strikes on Wagner camps. The military denied these strikes had occurred, and there was no independent evidence to back up his claim.

As Russian soldiers in armored personnel carriers secured key installations in Moscow, leading Russian military commanders who had worked with Wagner urged the group’s fighters to stop before it was too late. “The last thing we need is to unleash a real civil war inside the country. Come back to your senses,” urged Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, the deputy chief of Russian military intelligence.

While there were no reports of clashes, Prigozhin said that his forces will launch a “march for justice.” Early on Saturday morning, he said that his troops had already left eastern Ukraine and started entering the southern Russian city of Rostov, where he said young conscripts offered no resistance. There was no immediate independent confirmation.

Video posted on social media showed armored vehicles deployed in central Moscow, including on the street where the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, and the Prosecutor General’s Office are located.

“The evil that the military leadership of the country brings forward must be stopped. They have forgotten the word justice, and we will return it,” Prigozhin said in an audio recording posted on Wagner’s social media Friday. “Anyone attempting resistance will be considered a threat and immediately destroyed. This includes all the checkpoints on our path and any aircraft above our heads.”

Friday’s events showed the depth of political crisis inside Russia after 16 months of grueling war marked by a series of military setbacks. Pressure is rising on Putin to squelch any threat that Prigozhin now poses to his power, and to Russia’s ability to continue waging the war. Putin, so far, hasn’t made any public statements about the drama unfolding in Russia.

A former convict who grew close to Putin after serving as his caterer in St. Petersburg, Prigozhin has used the war in Ukraine to become one of Russia’s most powerful and popular personalities, with tens of thousands of battle-hardened troops on his payroll.

Wagner troops were the only Russian forces able to advance in Ukraine in nearly a year, taking the city of Bakhmut last month, and he has garnered a wide following for his firebrand, populist rhetoric against Russian elites.

He has also established recruiting centers across Russia. Wagner’s ranks include many former members of Russia’s military, particularly from the special forces and other selective units, as well as fighters recruited in Russian prisons with a promise of amnesty. The group has a cultlike culture, and practices executing deserters and traitors with a sledgehammer.

For the past several months, Prigozhin has been focusing his vitriol on Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. Earlier on Friday, he accused Shoigu of leading Russia into war in Ukraine on a false narrative in order to get awards and a promotion in rank.

Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russian troops in Ukraine who, unlike Shoigu and Gerasimov, has been repeatedly praised by Prigozhin, made a late-night video appeal asking Wagner’s troops not to obey the group’s owner.

“We are one blood. We are warriors,” he said. “The enemy is only waiting for our internal political situation to flare up. Stop your columns. Resolve all the problems in a peaceful way.”

Russia’s Federal Security Service, also known as FSB, called on Wagner’s troops to detain Prigozhin.

Putin has been informed about the situation around Prigozhin and all necessary measures are being taken, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state news media.

National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said the U.S. is “monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”

Over the past several years, Prigozhin turned Wagner into a highly skilled military force that assisted Moscow’s goals around the world, from eastern Ukraine in 2014 to Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic.

By Prigozhin’s own admission, Wagner lost 20,000 troops in the monthslong battle for Bakhmut that left the Ukrainian city in ruins. As the most combat-efficient Russian unit in Ukraine, Wagner has played a pivotal role in the war. It has already briefly clashed with regular Russian forces near Bakhmut this month, detaining the commander of a Russian brigade whom Prigozhin accused of having mined the road used by Wagner when it pulled back from the city.

The Russian Ministry of Defense tried earlier this month to assert control over Wagner, which has its own tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and aircraft, by demanding all paramilitary groups and private military companies sign formal contracts to come under the ministry’s control.

Prigozhin said that Wagner was ready to find a way to comply with the order.

“But seeing that we are unbroken, they launched missile strikes on our rear bases. An enormous amount of our combat comrades have died. We will decide how to respond to this crime. The next step is ours,” he said. “This is not a military coup, this is a march of justice. Our actions do not impede the troops.”

He added that Putin’s administration, the government, the police and the Russian National Guard will function as normal “once we finish.”

“Justice in the armed forces will be restored, and after that justice in all of Russia,” Prigozhin said.

In Friday’s recordings, Prigozhin said that he has 25,000 men under arms but also considers the entire army, and the entire Russian society, his strategic reserve. Russian commentators reacted to this turn of events with shock.

“God save Russia,” posted Oleg Tsaryov, a former Ukrainian lawmaker who has been a prominent Russian politician since 2014.

Earlier in the day, Prigozhin said Shoigu lied to Russians and to Putin when he told a “story about the crazy aggression from the Ukrainian side and the plans to attack us with the entire NATO bloc.” In an implied criticism of Putin, he added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have agreed to a deal if the Kremlin had deigned to negotiate.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine...rrage-9d9da03a

[bsnub]

RED ON RED ENGAGEMENT:@PStyle0ne1
reports that an armed convoy of Wagner PMC troops has left Shakhty and is apparently en route to a RU military command center at Rostov-on-Don. It appears the long-simmering feud between Wagner PMC and the Russian MOD may be about to go hot.

[harrybarracuda]

In England, we would say "Trouble at t'mill".

[bsnub]

Deploying 98% of ruzzia's combat power to Ukraine is now going to bite putin in the ass... because now inside ruzzia Wagner troops outnumber ruzzian army troops.

It's on...

In a new audio statement, Prigozhin has just announced that Wagner units are now entering Rostov. "If anyone gets in the way, we will destroy everyone. We move on and we go to the end."

https://twitter.com/NOELreports/stat...82268608851970

[Bettyboo]

(^ just below that message)

I don't know if this is true, but is interesting:

[misskit]

UPDATE
2:18 Moscow time


Yevgeny Prigozhin has issued a new statement.


"We have crossed the national border. Border guards were greeting us and hugged our fighters. Now we are entering Rostov[-on-Don]. The Defence Ministry is throwing mandatory conscripts at us, those are lads 18 years of age. They moved aside. We are not fighting against children.


We do not kill children, it is [Defence Minister] Shoigu who does so. He’s sending untrained lads against us, the boys are so young they might as well be our sons or even grandsons. These boys will be spared and will return to their mothers. We only fight against seasoned servicemen. If anybody gets in our way, we’re going to destroy all of them. We’ll go all the way," Prigozhin said in yet another voice message.




2:37 Moscow time


Yevgeny Prigozhin has issued one more statement:


“Moments ago, the head of the General Staff ordered that jets be used against our columns that move alongside civilian cars and trucks. He doesn’t care who to kill, they’ve been killing their own civilians for 1.5 years instead of fighting the opponent. I wish to thank the pilots who refused to obey these criminal orders.”


Yet again, none of Prigozhin’s claims can be proven by other sources.

MORE Yevgeny Prigozhin declares beginning of armed conflict against Russia's military leadership. Tune in for updates — Novaya Gazeta Europe

[pickel]

Prigozhin is winning. I feel the war in Ukraine will be over soon.

[malmomike77]

Reports that a column of Wagner troops are moving towards Moscow. Apparently he is going after ruzzian MOD, not Putin. Should get spicy as he has 25,000 troops going with him.

i hope they brought their NBC suits

[pickel]

i hope they brought their NBC suits

I'm not sure what you mean there Mike. Tear gas? Nerve gas? Nukes?

They're bringing tanks though, along with a few regular Russian troops they've picked up on the way. And they've already shot down a helicopter. And basically took Rostov on Don without a fight.

[Pragmatic]

If Yevgeny Prigozhin takes 25,000 troops with him to Moscow then that's going to leave a huge void for Russia to fill, is it not?

[pickel]

If Yevgeny Prigozhin takes 25,000 troops with him to Moscow then that's going to leave a huge void for Russia to fill, is it not?

That's why he's doing it now.

He already pulled his troops out of Ukraine. The Russian Army void is inside Russia.

[david44]

Extremely dangerous dynamic situation.
We have seen how vicious Putin has been with cold pre meditated assassinations and invasions, it is worrying what he and frightened minions may resort to if cornered like the rat he is.

like Boris Yeltsin on the tank at the White House this may prove a pivotal moment and a great opportunity for AFU to break through , perhaps Kerch Bridge demolition?

Dangerous times

[Stretchy]

I'm not sure what you mean there Mike. Tear gas? Nerve gas? Nukes?
.

NBC = nuclear, biological and chemical. NBC suits are suits that are supposed to protect the wearers from the effects of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. The British military has them, or used to.

[malmomike77]

I'm not sure what you mean there Mike. Tear gas? Nerve gas? Nukes?

nerve agents, they have history and for this situation they could take them out without engaging - just evacuate an area before hand.

[Troy]

They're bringing tanks though, along with a few regular Russian troops they've picked up on the way. And they've already shot down a helicopter. And basically took Rostov on Don without a fight.

Latest ISW report is a bit behind but thinks the rebellion is unlikely to succeed in toppling the Russian MoD due to lack of support from the Kremlin.

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 23, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War

Time to grab the popcorn and watch the show...

[pickel]

Time to grab the popcorn and watch the show

This is a good show. Who do you think is in charge in this video?

Prigozhin meeting with Russian Deputy Minister of Defense, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, Deputy Chief of Russian Military Intelligence (Translated to english)



Reddit - Dive into anything

[malmomike77]

^^ All excellent news for Ukraine whatever happens, interrupted resupply at a minimum and further confusion in the ranks and command.

[pickel]

NBC = nuclear, biological and chemical. NBC suits are suits that are supposed to protect the wearers from the effects of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. The British military has them, or used to.

Thanks stretchy, but I already knew that. I was wondering why Mike thought they'd need them.

[harrybarracuda]

i hope they brought their NBC suits

On the bright side, Thailand condo prices would go up.

[PlanK]

What does the average regular army Ruskie think of all this?

A lot of underpaid, under-trained, under-supplied conscripts sitting in Russia right now wondering if their allegiance to the Motherland is worth shooting at their own comrades.

[Ukan Kizmiaz]

I dunno if this is good in teh long term - maybe.
But Prighozin is a bit of a loose cannon? Will he really stop once he gets his way with the MoD?
Do you really see him not deposing Putin or at least being annointed as his successor?

Aren't his soldiers pretty much ex-cons, some that that got out early if they agreed to fight. Has he ever indicated that he didn't agree with teh war with Ukraine and was willing to cease the conflict - with what would be perceived as a (humiliating) loss for Russia.

Maybe we'll see a Ceaucescu-esque spontaneous rising from the russion people - in support of peace and democracy OR restoration of russian patriotic pride and strength?

I agree that these are very dangerous times. We may look back and prefer that Putin remains in control. The west and Ukraneed to find a way that Putin, the Russian people and the Ukraines can move towards peace without humiliation - but I haven't seen either of the sides wanting to compromise.