The Russian secret service FSB is investigating mercenary boss Prigozhin over an attempted military coup. He had previously accused Moscow’s military leadership of attacking his Wagner groups and threatened countermeasures.
Russian authorities have opened criminal investigations into Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, for calling for a military coup. According to the Interfax news agency, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced that it had called for a protest against Moscow’s military leadership. Specifically, regarding his threat to overthrow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said all necessary measures would be taken. President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the situation.
Prigozhin called for war
The mercenary boss had previously accused Russian Defense Minister Shoigu of ordering the attack on the Wagner troop camps. “We were ready to make concessions to the Ministry of Defense to give up our weapons,” Prigozhin said. Nevertheless, “they launched rocket attacks on our rear camps”.
Prigogine spoke of “huge numbers” of dead, but did not give the exact number of mercenaries allegedly killed in the attack. Boss Wagner called for an end to the “evil” of the military leadership and vowed to respond to the attacks. He has 25,000 men at his command, who are now stationed against the generals responsible for the attack.
He urged the army not to resist. Any checkpoint that resists will be shot down. Attack aircraft will be shot down. His forces are not ready to challenge Putin. “We will clean up the destroyers of Russian soldiers and then return to the front,” he promised.
National Counter-Terrorism Squad: Criminal proceedings initiated
The Russian Defense Ministry denied the attack. A statement issued by the ministry in the evening said that all the allegations were false and “provocative”. The National Counter-Terrorism Committee also called the allegations baseless.
“The accusations circulated on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin are completely groundless. Therefore, based on these reports, the FSB has opened a criminal case for inciting an armed conspiracy,” the agency’s statement said. In addition to the FSB, practically all other Russian security organs belong to the group.
Prigozhin questioned the reasons for the war
Prigozhin may have gone too far with the reports, he said ARD Correspondent Ina Jerk in Moscow Daily topics. “This is a clear coup threat — not against the president, but against the defense secretary,” Ruck said. It is not clear if the reports are true. “All this may be fiction or it may be true.”
Throughout Friday Prigozhin railed against the military leadership in Moscow – and questioned their official justifications for the war. Contrary to Russian propaganda claims, Prigozhin said in a video that Russia was not threatened by Ukraine before the start of the war in February 2022. The supposed “crazy aggression” on the part of Kiev and NATO never happened.
“The Defense Ministry is trying to deceive the president and the public,” said Prigozhin, who has been embroiled in an internal power struggle with Shoigu for months. “Military special operations were launched for entirely different reasons.” Then the Wagner boss added: “The war was necessary for Shoigu to get the title of Marshal. (…) to militarize Ukraine, not to destroy it.” In addition, Russian and pro-Russian oligarchs expect benefits from the war, Prigozhin said.
Conflicting parties as a source
Information on combat, shelling and casualties provided by the official organizations of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent organization in the current situation.
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