Open war between Wagner's boss and the Russian military command

June 23, 2023

The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Evguéni Prigojine, who went into rebellion against the Russian command, said on Saturday that he was at army headquarters in Rostov, the nerve center of operations in Ukraine, and controlled several military sites.

“We are at HQ, it is 7:30 a.m.” (04:30 GMT), Yevgeny Prigojine said in a video on Telegram. “The military sites in Rostov are under control, including the airfield”.

Mr. Prigojine, against whom the Russian general prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation for “armed mutiny”, went into rebellion with the 25,000 men claimed by his group, after accusing the regular army of having bombarded his troops. Authorities have tightened security measures in Moscow and several other regions of Russia.

“We continue, we will go to the end,” Evguéni Prigojine launched in an audio message on Telegram. “We will destroy everything that gets in our way.”

“We are all ready to die, all 25,000. And after that there will be another 25,000. he hammered afterwards.

During the night, he announced that he had crossed the border and entered Rostov, headquarters of the headquarters of the southern command of the Russian army from where military operations in Ukraine are coordinated. He also assured that his troops had shot down a Russian helicopter which had “opened fire on a civilian column”.

He did not provide any proof of these assertions, the veracity of which AFP was unable to confirm.

The governor of the Rostov region called on the population to “stay at home”, and that of Lipetsk, 420 km south of Moscow, also announced “reinforced security measures”.

“Anti-terrorist activities are underway in Moscow with the aim of strengthening security measures”, announced the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin.

Images on social media and online media, the authenticity of which AFP could not confirm, showed military vehicles circulating in the city, near the Ministry of Defense, and in position in front of the chamber lower part of Parliament, the Duma, a few dozen meters from the Kremlin.

Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov informed President Vladimir Putin “of the opening of a criminal investigation in connection with the attempt to organize an armed mutiny”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

In multiple audio messages throughout the day, Wagner’s boss previously claimed that Russian strikes had caused a “very high number of casualties” in his ranks.

“They carried out strikes, missile strikes, on our rear camps. Huge numbers of our fighters were killed,” he said, accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering these attacks.

These accusations “do not correspond to reality and are a provocation”, retorted the Ministry of Defense in a press release.

The FSB (security forces) called on Wagner’s fighters to arrest their leader. And an influential Russian general, Sergei Surovikin, urged Wagner’s fighters to give up their revolt.

“I (you) ask to stop (…) Before it is too late, we must obey the will and the order of the elected president of Russia”, he said in a video on Telegram.

This open war exposes the tensions within the Russian forces engaged in the Ukrainian conflict.

“Those who have military responsibility for the country must be stopped,” also said the boss of Wagner, calling on the Russians to join his troops or not to oppose them.

Rival Russian factions have begun to “devour each other for power and money”, said Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. In Washington, the White House said it was monitoring the situation closely.

Russian opponent in exile in London and businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has called for support for Yevgeny Prigojine to fight Vladimir Putin’s regime. “Yes, even the devil would have to help him if he decided to go against this regime!” he wrote on Telegram.

On Friday, Yevgeny Prigojine said that the Russian army was retreating in the areas of Zaporijjia and Kherson (south) as well as in Bakhmout, a city in the east that the Russians claim to have captured but where the Ukrainians say they have advanced on the flanks these last weeks.

“There are no military successes” from Moscow, Mr. Prigojine again slashed, affirming that the Russian military “washes themselves with their blood”, a way of saying that they suffer heavy losses.

Unverifiable from an independent source, the words of Wagner’s boss in any case contradict those of Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu, according to whom the Russian army “repels” all Ukrainian attacks.

The Russian Defense Ministry, however, warned that Ukraine is preparing to attack from Bakhmout’s side by “taking advantage of Prigozhin’s provocation”.

In recent days, Mr. Putin has repeated that the Ukrainian counter-offensive was a failure and that the forces of kyiv had suffered almost “catastrophic” losses.

Mr. Prigojine described these victorious declarations as “profound deception”.

While many opponents and anonymous Russians are in prison for criticizing the conflict in Ukraine, the leader of Wagner has openly questioned the reasons for which the military intervention was launched.

“The war was necessary for a group of bastards to be promoted”, he lambasted, also accusing “the Russian oligarchs” who “needed the war”, while Kiev was according to him “ready to not any agreement”.