Wagner Group leader accuses Russian army of bombing his military camps, Russia denies

Evguéni Prigojine promised to “respond” to these attacks ordered, according to him, by the Russian Minister of Defense.

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Yevgeny Prigojine, the leader of the Wagner Group, speaks in a video to the Russian army, May 5, 2023. (HANDOUT / TELEGRAM / CONCORDGROUP_OFFICIAL / AFP)

Deep tensions. The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner accused, on Friday June 23, the Russian regular army of having carried out strikes on the camps of its fighters behind the Ukrainian front, making a “very large number of victims”.

“They carried out strikes, missile strikes, on our rear camps. A very large number of our fighters were killed”said Yevgeny Prigojine in an audio message broadcast by his press service, promising to “respond” to these attacks ordered according to him by the Russian Minister of Defence. The leader of the paramilitary group also called for “stop” the Russian military command, calling not to oppose “resistance” to his troops and affirming that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu would be “stopped”.

Call for “those who want to join us”

The Russian army immediately denied having bombed positions of the paramilitary group. “Posts and videos posted on social networks by Yevgeny Prigozhin on alleged ‘strikes by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the rear bases of the paramilitary group Wagner’ do not correspond to reality and are a provocation”, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

The boss of the paramilitary group also claimed to have 25,000 men and called on the Russians, especially the soldiers, to join them. “We are 25,000 and we are going to determine why chaos reigns in the country (…) Our strategic reserves are the whole army and the whole country”, said Yevgeny Prigojine in an audio message, before appealing to “all those who want to join us” For “put an end to the mess”.


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