Reuters: London Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary force, made it seem as though he had launched an armed convoy on a Saturday 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) charge toward Moscow in an implausible attempt to overthrow the military hierarchy.
Russian local officials advised locals to avoid a military convoy that was on the main highway connecting the southern region of European Russia, which borders Ukraine, with Moscow.
After Prigozhin claimed—without offering any proof—that the military leadership had killed a significant number of his militants in an airstrike and threatened to punish them, the Russian government accused him of mounting an armed uprising.
The armed mutiny charge, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence, was filed against Prigozhin by the internal security agency FSB.
Many facts surrounding the rapid change of events remain unknown, but it appears to be the worst domestic issue President Vladimir Putin has encountered since he authorized a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, which he described as a “special military operation.”
Prigozhin, whose Wagner militia was instrumental in the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, has been publicly accusing Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of rank incompetence and depriving Wagner of supplies and support during its battles in Ukraine.
The ministry said in a statement that Prigozhin’s charges were “not true and are an informational provocation” as their dispute appeared to be coming to a climax.
According to Prigozhin, his actions weren’t a military takeover. However, he seemed to imply that 25,000 fighters were on their way to Moscow to overthrow the leaders of the defense establishment in a frenetic series of audio transmissions, in which the sound of his voice occasionally varied and could not be independently verified.
He had appeared to cross a new boundary in his bitter dispute with the ministry early on Friday when he said that Putin’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine was based on fabrications made up by the army’s senior brass.
Prigozhin announced on the Telegram app about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT) that his men had entered Russia from Ukraine and were in Rostov.
According to him, they were prepared to “go all the way” with the top brass and eliminate anyone standing in their way.
At about the same time, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, was quoted by the official news agency TASS as saying that all of Russia’s top security services were updating Putin “round the clock” on the execution of his directives about Prigozhin.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced on his Telegram account that security in Moscow was being reinforced.
A military convoy was on the M-4 highway between Rostov-on-Don, the regional capital, and Moscow about 5 a.m. (0200 GMT), according to the Voronezh region’s administration, which warned locals not to use it on Telegram.
A convoy of several military vehicles, including at least one tank and one armored vehicle on flatbed trucks, was seen in unconfirmed video that was released on social media. It was unclear where they were or whether fighters were present in the convoy’s covered trucks. Russian flags could be seen flying from several of the trucks.
Videos broadcast on Rostov-on-Don-based channels showed tanks outside the Southern Military District’s headquarters and armed soldiers in uniform skirting the city’s regional police headquarters on foot. Reuters was able to corroborate the locations but was unable to pinpoint when the footage was taken.
Those who destroyed our lands, who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished, Prigozhin warned in his audio messages. I kindly request that no one show resistance.
He declared, pledging to take down any air forces or checkpoints in Wagner’s path, There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country.
The FSB said that Prigozhin had called for the outbreak of an armed civil war on Russian territory and that his activities had stabbed in the back Russian personnel engaged in combat with pro-fascist Ukrainian forces.
We implore the warriors to avoid making fatal errors, to cease using force against the Russian people, to refrain from carrying out Prigozhin’s criminal and treacherous orders, and to take steps to have him detained.
In a video message, Lieutenant-General of the Army Vladimir Alekseyev pleaded with Prigozhin to change his mind.
You are attempting to infringe on the president’s authority, he continued, who alone has the power to name the top military officials.
The deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Army General Sergei Surovikin, who has previously received plaudits from Prigozhin, stated in a video that “the enemy is just waiting for our internal political situation to worsen.
You must comply with the wishes and directives of the Russian Federation’s president of the people before it is too late. Pull the columns to a halt and put them back on their permanent bases, he stated.
Wagner-related Telegram account purportedly captured the scene of an airstrike against its fighters in an unconfirmed video. It displayed a woodland with little fires burning and trees that seemed like they had been violently smashed. One body appeared, but there was no other obvious sign of an attack.
A missile attack was launched on the camps of Private Military Company Wagner, said the caption. several victims. Witnesses claim that the attack was carried out by the Russian Ministry of Defence’s military and that it came from behind.
Wagner’s military victory, won at great human cost, has been used by Prigozhin to publicly criticize Moscow while carefully avoiding criticism of Putin.
However, he rejected Putin’s main rationale for invading Ukraine 16 months ago for the first time on Friday, for which many Russians have been punished or imprisoned.
