Kremlin to prosecute Wagner boss over alleged armed mutiny – as safety tightened in Moscow

Russia has opened a legal case towards the pinnacle of the Wagner mercenary group for alleged armed mutiny, with safety tightened within the capital.

Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the nation’s defence ministry of concentrating on his troops and ordering a rocket strike on Wagner’s discipline camps in Ukraine – killing “a huge number of our comrades”.

He warned that his troops will transfer to punish defence minister Sergei Shoigu – and urged the military to not supply resistance.

Ukraine warfare newest: Drone footage shows Bakhmut devastation

“This is not an armed rebellion, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin mentioned.

However, there is no such thing as a proof up to now of any motion or march by Wagner troops.

The FSB has urged Wagner Group fighters to not perform “criminal and traitorous orders” at Prigozhin’s request – and as a substitute, to take steps to apprehend him.

Local businesses carried a press release from the safety service which mentioned the mercenary chief’s remarks quantity to a name to start out armed civil battle in Russia – and are a “stab in the back” for the nation’s troops.

The Russian defence ministry has denied orchestrating an assault on Wagner fighters – describing the allegations as “untrue and an informational provocation”.

According to the TASS news company, President Vladimir Putin has been made conscious of the newest developments – and “necessary measures are being taken”.

Security has now been tightened at key services in Moscow as riot police and the National Guard scrambled to guard authorities businesses and transport infrastructure.

Prigozhin had claimed the assault occurred after he criticised the nation’s high brass in an explosive outburst on the Telegram messaging app.

In a video, he had mentioned the Kremlin’s rationale for invading Ukraine final February was primarily based on lies – and the “evil” of Russia’s army management have to be stopped.

Prigozhin additionally alleged that the defence minister ordered 2,000 our bodies of Wagner fighters to be hidden in a southern Russia morgue.

Deborah Haynes, Sky’s safety and defence editor, has described the newest developments as severe – and a “fairly extraordinary escalation in the vitriol between the head of the Wagner mercenary group and the Russian ministry of defence”.

If convicted, Prigozhin may resist 20 years in jail.

An escalation

In his Telegram clip earlier on Friday, the Wagner chief had dismissed Moscow’s core justifications for invading Ukraine final February in what it known as a “special military operation”.

Prigozhin mentioned: “The defence ministry is trying to deceive society and the president and tell us a story about how there was crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they were planning to attack us with the whole of NATO.”

The mercenary chief went on to assert “the war wasn’t needed to demilitarise or denazify Ukraine” – and was pushed by a want to complement the ruling elite.

He additionally argued that Moscow may have struck a cope with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier than the warfare started.

The Wagner Group, a personal army firm, performed an instrumental position in serving to Russia seize the Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut final month.

It was an extended and bloody battle, with Wagner counting on tens of hundreds of convicts who had been promised pardons in the event that they survived six months of preventing.

‘Sailing near the wind’

While Prigozhin has repeatedly attacked Moscow, he has stopped in need of criticising President Vladimir Putin instantly.

Nonetheless, his newest claims contradict Putin’s narrative, with Russian authorities imposing fines and jail phrases for individuals who unfold “falsehoods” in regards to the battle.

Prigozhin’s newest video claims that tens of hundreds of younger Russian lives have been sacrificed needlessly, whereas the nation’s high brass swill vodka and cognac and dine on caviar.

On Thursday, he had accused senior members of the army of mendacity to Putin and the Ukrainian individuals in regards to the scale of Russian losses in Ukraine, in addition to setbacks on the battlefield.

And in earlier clips, he was proven standing in entrance of slain troops in Ukraine and yelling insults at army management.

He shouted: “They came here as volunteers and they died to let you lounge in your mahogany offices. You are sitting in your expensive clubs, your children are enjoying good living and filming videos on YouTube. Those who don’t give us ammunition will be eaten alive in hell.”

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Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia on the International Institute for Strategic Studies, mentioned: “Prigozhin is now sailing much closer to the wind than he ever has.

“If your army forces are divided and if they don’t seem to be preventing collectively successfully, then your army operations will endure accordingly and that is precisely what’s taking place right here.”

Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political commentator, described Prigozhin as “the second-most well-liked man after Putin” and a “image of Russia’s army victory for thousands and thousands of individuals”.

There has been hypothesis that Prigozhin has ambitions for prime workplace, together with his criticisms creating the phantasm that he’s an outsider.

But Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment mentioned Prigozhin owes his place and wealth to Putin, including: “He is playing an independent politician, raising the stakes and testing the system’s limits.

“But it is solely technically and bodily potential for so long as Putin finds him helpful and is amused by his escapades.”