Sat 24 June 2023:
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian military contractor Wagner Group, has rejected accusations of “treason” by President Vladimir Putin after his troops crossed crossed from Ukraine into the Russian border city of Rostov-on-Don, vowing to fight anyone who tried to stop them.
On Saturday, Prigozhin posted an audio message on the social media app Telegram, claiming his forces had taken control of military facilities in the city, including the airfield.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that the Moscow strikes has killed "huge" numbers of Wagner forces.
Accusing Russian military leadership of bombing his forces, Prigozhin also vowed to retailate and "stop" them.#WagnerPMC pic.twitter.com/zKfESowH38
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) June 23, 2023
Prigozhin claims that "Russian MoD carried out a missile strike at Wagner rear camps".
Evgeniy Prigozhin published an audio message claiming that a "huge number of Wagner fighters have died" in the "missile strike" and that the "next step belongs to Wagner". pic.twitter.com/hrfroKQ94K
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) June 23, 2023
Videos and pictures posted online, including by Russia’s TASS news agency, showed armed men surrounding administrative buildings in Rostov and tanks deployed in the city centre.
“All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000,” he said, after earlier accusing the Russian top brass of having launched an attack on their camps in Ukraine, where the mercenaries are fighting on behalf of Moscow.
“We are dying for the Russian people.”
In an emergency televised address on Saturday, Putin said that the “armed mutiny” by Wagner amounted to “treason” and that anyone who had taken up arms against the Russian military would be punished.
He added that he would do everything to protect Russia, and that “decisive action” would be taken to stabilise the situation in Rostov.
‘Internal betrayal’
Speaking during an emergency televised address in Moscow on Saturday, President Vladimir Putin has promised that he would not allow Russia to slip into civil war, after Yevgeny Prighozin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary force, seized a key military headquarters overseeing the offensive in Ukraine.
“I appeal to the citizens of Russia, to the personnel of the armed forces, law enforcement and security services, fighters and commanders currently fighting on their positions, repelling the enemy attacks, doing it heroically.
I spoke to the commanders in all directions last night. I appeal also to those who were deceptively pulled into the criminal adventure, pushed towards a serious crime of an armed mutiny.
Today Russia is fighting fiercely for its future, repelling the aggression of neo-Nazis and their handlers. Directed against us is the whole military, economical and information machines of the West.
We fight for the lives and security of our people; for our sovereignty and independence; for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history.
This battle, where the fate of our people is being decided, requires all our forces to be united; unity, consolidation and responsibility. Everything that weakens us must be put to the side, any differences that may be used or are used by our enemies to disrupt us from within.
Thus, the actions splitting our unity are a betrayal of our people, of our brothers in combat who fight now at the front line. It’s a stab in the back of our country and our people.
It was such a blow that was dealt to Russia in 1917 when the country was fighting in World War I, but its victory was stolen.
Intrigues, bickering and politicking behind the back of the army and the people turned out to be the greatest catastrophe, the destruction of the army and the state, loss of huge territories, resulting in a tragedy and a civil war.
We will not let this happen again. We will protect our people and state from any threats, including internal betrayal. What we’re facing is exactly a betrayal.
Big ambitions and personal interests led to treason. Betrayal of one’s own country and people and of the cause that fighters of Wagner were dying for alongside our soldiers. Heroes who liberated Soledar and Artemovsk, towns and cities of the Donbas, who fought and gave their lives to Novorossiya and for the unity of the Russian world. Their name and glory have been betrayed by those who are trying to organise the mutiny, pushing the country into anarchy and fratricide, to a defeat, in the end, and capitulation.
I repeat: any internal mutiny is a deadly threat to our state, to us as a nation. It’s a blow against Russia, against our people. And our actions to defend the fatherland from such a threat will be brutal.
Anyone who consciously went on the path of betrayal, who prepared the armed mutiny, went on the path of blackmail and terrorist actions, will be punished inevitably. They will answer before the law and our people.
The armed forces and other departments have received the necessary orders. Additional anti-terrorist security measures are now being implemented in Moscow, Moscow region, and a number of other regions. Decisive actions will be taken to stabilise the situation in Rostov-on-Don, which still remains difficult. The operation of civilian and military control departments is practically blocked.
As a president of Russia and the commander-in-chief, as a citizen of Russia, I will do everything to defend the country, protect the Constitution, lives and safety, liberty of the citizens.
Those who organised and prepared the military mutiny, who turned weapons against their comrades-in-arms, have betrayed Russia, and will be held accountable for that.
And those who are being pulled into the crime, I’m calling on you to not make this crucial, tragic, unrepeatable mistake.
Make the only right choice – stop participating in criminal actions.
I believe that we will defend and preserve what’s sacred for us. And together with the motherland, we will overcome all challenges, and become even stronger.”
The authorities in Moscow and the surrounding area say they have declared a “counterterrorism” state of emergency after Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed his forces were in control of military sites in Rostov.
Russia’s FSB security service has opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for the armed mutiny, state-owned TASS news agency said.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
______________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
