Russia accuses the leader of the Wagner Group of inciting an “armed rebellion”

The Russian government began an investigation on Friday against the leader of the Russian mercenary group WagnerYevgeny Prigozhin.

The Kremlin’s Federal Security Service (FSB) singled out Prigozhin as an instigator of a rebellion, after he accused the Russian army to launch a deadly attack with missiles against their troops.

Wagner’s boss proclaimed that the “evil” in Russia’s military leadership must be stopped and vowed to “march for justice.”

The authorities denied the march and demanded that he stop the “illegal actions”.

The internal struggle, red hot

President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the situation and all necessary measures are being taken, his spokesman said.

Vladimir Putin is seeing this internal front open up more and more. (GETTY IMAGES).

The new clash between the government and the mercenaries supposes a major escalation of infighting inside Russia.

The Wagner group is a paramilitary organization that fights alongside the Russian forces in the Ukraine.

However, in recent months Prigozhin has increased his criticism of Moscow’s military leadership.

In an audio message posted on the Telegram social media platform, he stated that “the evil carried by the Russian military leadership must be stopped.”

“Those who killed our boys and took tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers [en la guerra en Ucrania] they will be punished“, he sentenced.

“I ask you not to resist. Anyone who does will be considered a threat and destroyed. This applies to any checkpoints and aircraft in our path.

“The presidential power, the government, the police and the Russian guard will function as usual,” he said.

Wagner has repeatedly accused Moscow of not doing enough to prevent deaths from its mercenaries. In the photo, graves of Wagner soldiers killed in the Ukrainian war. (GETTY IMAGES).

And I add: “this is not a military coup, but a march for justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way.”

Criticism of the invasion of Ukraine

Moscow state media reported that the FSB opened criminal proceedings against Prigozhin, whom it accuses of “call an armed rebellion“.

The Kremlin also announced that “the necessary measures are being taken,” according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that “all Prigozhin’s reports spread on social media” about the Russian attacks on the Wagner camps “are not true and are an informative tease“.

This comes after a video was released in May in which the Wagner leader, surrounded by the bodies of his troops, reprimanded Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valerii Gerasimov for not supply them with enough ammunition.

And this Friday Prigozhin asserted that the war in Ukraine began “so that Shoigu could become a marshal.”

“The Ministry of Defense is trying to mislead the public, mislead the president, and tell a story that there was a crazy aggression by Ukraine; that, together with the entire NATO bloc, Ukraine was planning to attack us“he claimed.

Source: Elcomercio