Kremlin accuses leader of mercenaries of inciting CIVIL WAR, puts its troops on capital’s streets and vows to smash ‘armed mutiny’ as State TV runs emergency bulletin
- Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed Russia bombed his army’s bases
- He has vowed revenge as the Kremlin called for an end to group’s ‘illegal actions’
There are fears of a coup in Russia this morning as military vehicles were seen on the streets after the chief of the Wagner mercenary group called for an armed rebellion in direct challenge to the Kremlin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin escalated his challenge calling for the ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by opening a criminal investigation into Yevgeny Prigozhin and calling for his arrest.
Prigozhin also alleged that the military leadership had killed a huge number of his fighters in an air strike and vowed to punish them.
The standoff, many of whose details remained unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis President Vladimir Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine – something he called a ‘special military operation’ – in February last year.
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’.
Prigozhin said his actions were not 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.
Security was being tightened in Moscow, the TASS news agency said, focusing on what it called the capital’s most important government sites and infrastructure.
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.
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.
BREAKING: Russian state media confirms that forces in Moscow have been placed on high alert, security of important locations in the capital beefed up after Wagner threats
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 23, 2023
