Vladimir Putin stood up on Saturday against the “mortal threat” and the risk of “civil war” posed by the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, who openly entered into rebellion against the Russian command.
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In a black suit, with a serious air and a martial tone, the head of the Kremlin addressed at 10:00 a.m. (Moscow time) without naming him to the man who challenged him, accusing “traitors” to the Russian nation and promising to “punish” them.
“It’s a stab in the back of our country and our people,” Putin said in an address to the nation. […] What we are facing is nothing but betrayal. A betrayal caused by excessive ambitions and self-interests [de M. Prigojine].”
Earlier, the head of Wagner had claimed to hold the headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov, the nerve center of operations in Ukraine, and to control several military sites.
“We are at [quartier général], it’s 7:30 a.m.,” Evgueni Prigojine said in a video on Telegram. “Military sites in Rostov are under control, including the airfield.”
After these statements, Vladimir Putin was forced to admit that the situation in Rostov was indeed “difficult”.
In reaction to this rebellion, the Russian public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation for “armed mutiny” against the group which entered into rebellion with its claimed 25,000 men, after having accused the regular army of having bombarded his troops.
The authorities have reinforced security measures in Moscow, where the “anti-terrorist operation regime” has just been established, a direct consequence of the threat from Prigozhin, who launched in an audio message on Telegram: “We continue, we will go to the end” and “we will destroy everything that gets in our way”.
On the Ukrainian side, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky judged that it was “only the beginning in Russia”.
“The division between the elites is too obvious. To agree and pretend that everything is settled will not work,” added Mykhaïlo Podoliak on Twitter.
“Ready to die”
“We are all ready to die, all 25,000. And after that there will be another 25,000. Because we are dying for our fatherland, we are dying for the Russian people who must be liberated from those who bombard the civilian population” , had hammered Prigozhin.
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”.
AFP
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”.
Images on social networks and online media, the authenticity of which AFP could not confirm, showed military vehicles circulating in the city of Moscow, near the Ministry of Defense and in position in front of the lower house of Parliament, the Duma, a few dozen meters from the Kremlin.
Investigation for mutiny
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. A very large number of our fighters have been killed,” he said, accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering the attacks.
These accusations “do not correspond to reality and are a provocation”, retorted the Ministry of Defense in a press release.
AFP
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.
This open war exposes the tensions within the Russian forces engaged in the Ukrainian conflict.
“Those who have the 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 with resistance.
“Help Even the Devil”
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.
“There are no military successes” from Moscow, Prigojine said on Friday, saying 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 Ministry of Defense, however, warned that Ukraine is preparing to attack from the side of Bakhmout 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 Kyiv forces had suffered almost “catastrophic” losses.
Mr. Prigojine described these victorious declarations as “deep deception”.