Wagner’s founder Yevgeniy Prigojin accused the Russian military of attacking Wagner and suggested that they were mobilizing to respond.
After Yevgeniy Prigojin, founder of the Russian security company Wagner, accused the Russian military of attacking Wagner and threatened to retaliate, the country’s Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case on charges of “armed rebellion”.
In a statement on his Telegram channel, Prigojin claimed that the Russian army had attacked Wagner’s camps.
“We were ready to make concessions to the Russian Defense Ministry, surrender our weapons and find a solution on how to protect our country in the future,” Prigojin said, arguing that the Russian Defense Ministry deceived Wagner and wanted to eliminate him.
Prigojin said, “Today they attacked our camps with missiles. Many of our soldiers were killed,” Prigojin claimed.
Emphasizing that Wagner would respond to this, Prigojin continued as follows:
“The Wagner council has taken a decision. The evil done by the military leadership of our country must be stopped. Those who killed our men today and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers will be punished. I call on everyone not to resist this. We will recognize anyone who confronts us as a threat and destroy them immediately. Do not try to block our path. After we finish what we started, we will return to the front and continue to protect our country. We will destroy those who killed our soldiers and bring justice. We have 25,000 people and we are going to solve the chaos in the country. We have 25,000 tactical and strategic forces waiting. I invite everyone to join us. This is not a military coup. This is an operation for justice. Our actions do not interfere with the army. Many Russian soldiers support us. They send us messages of support.”
Prigojin argued that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “came to the Rostov region to organize an operation to destroy Wagner and used the artillery and air force for this purpose.” Prigojin claimed that the bodies of more than 2,000 Russian soldiers who died in the war were found in the region and their losses were hidden.
Russian Defense Ministry denied the attack
In the statement made by the Russian Defense Ministry, it was stated that the images of Wagner’s camps on social media were “fake” and “provocation”.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the incident and necessary measures were taken.
FSB stepped in
In the statement made by the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee, it was noted that Prigojin’s statements were not true and said, “The FSB has opened a criminal case against calling for armed rebellion. We demand an immediate end to illegitimate actions.”
