Associated Press
The proprietor of the Wagner non-public army contractor made his most direct problem to the Kremlin but on Friday, calling for an armed revolt geared toward ousting Russia’s protection minister. The safety providers reacted instantly by calling for the arrest of Yevgeny Prigozhin and opening a legal investigation.
In an indication of how severely the Kremlin was taking the risk, safety was heightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don, which is residence to the Russian army headquarters for the southern area and in addition oversees the combating in Ukraine.
While the end result of the confrontation was nonetheless unclear, it appeared more likely to additional hinder Moscow’s warfare effort as Kyiv’s forces had been probing Russian defenses within the preliminary levels of a counteroffensive.
Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, saying they confronted no resistance from younger conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”
“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he stated in one in every of a collection of indignant video and audio recordings posted on social media starting late Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”
He claimed that the chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, scrambled warplanes to strike Wagner’s convoys, which had been driving alongside odd automobiles.
Despite Prigozhin’s statements that Wagner convoys had entered Rostov-on-Don, there was no affirmation of that but on Russian social networks. Videos confirmed heavy vans blocking highways resulting in the town, lengthy convoys of National Guard vans had been seen on a street outdoors Rostov-on-Don and armored automobiles had been roaming the streets.
Prigozhin stated Wagner subject camps in Ukraine had been struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery hearth on orders from Gerasimov following a gathering with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which they determined to destroy Wagner.
The Wagner forces have performed a vital position in Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the town the place the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. But Prigozhin has more and more criticized Russia’s army brass, accusing it of incompetence and of ravenous his troops of weapons and ammunition.
Prigozhin stated late Friday his troops would punish Shoigu in an armed revolt and urged the military to not provide resistance. “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin declared.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is a part of the Federal Security Services, or FSB, has charged him with calling for an armed revolt, which carries a penalty of as much as 20 years in jail.
The FSB urged Wagner’s contract troopers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to observe his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It known as his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and stated they amounted to fomenting an armed battle in Russia.
President Vladimir Putin has been knowledgeable concerning the state of affairs and “all the necessary measures were being taken,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated.
Heavy army vans and armored automobiles had been seen in a number of elements of central Moscow early Saturday, and troopers toting assault rifles had been deployed outdoors the principle constructing of the Defense Ministry. The space across the presidential administration close to Red Square was blocked, snarling site visitors.
But even amid the heightened army presence, downtown bars and eating places had been full of prospects. At one membership close to the headquarters of the FSB, individuals had been dancing on the street close to the doorway.
Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates again years, had refused to adjust to a requirement that army contractors signal contracts with the ministry earlier than July 1. In a press release late Friday, he stated he was able to discover a compromise however “they have treacherously cheated us.”
“Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,” he stated. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.
Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike after which “cowardly” fled.
“This scum will be stopped,” he stated of Shoigu.
“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he shouted, urging the military to not provide any resistance to Wagner because it strikes to “restore justice.”
Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces combating in Ukraine, urged the Wagner forces to cease any transfer in opposition to the military, saying it could play into the fingers of Russia’s enemies, who’re “waiting to see the exacerbation of our domestic political situation.”
Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst, predicted this may be the top of Prigozhin.
“Now that the state has actively engaged, there’s no turning back,” she tweeted. “The termination of Prigozhin and Wagner is imminent. The only possibility now is absolute obliteration, with the degree of resistance from the Wagner group being the only variable. Surovikin was dispatched to convince them to surrender. Confrontation seems totally futile.”
Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a high army officer, denounced Prigozhin’s transfer as “madness” that threatened to unleash a civil warfare.
“It’s a stab in the back to the country and the president,” he stated. “It’s impossible to imagine a stronger blow to the image of Russia and its armed forces. Such a provocation could only be staged by enemies of Russia.”
The Defense Ministry stated in a press release that Ukraine’s army was concentrating troops to launch an assault round Bakhmut to reap the benefits of “Prigozhin’s provocation.” It stated Russian artillery and warplanes had been firing on Ukrainian forces as they ready to begin an offensive within the space.
In different developments within the Ukraine warfare, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy known as on different international locations to heed warnings that Russia could also be planning to assault an occupied nuclear energy plant to trigger a radiation catastrophe.
Members of his authorities briefed worldwide representatives on the potential risk to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, whose six reactors have been shut down for months. Zelenskyy stated he anticipated different nations to “give appropriate signals and exert pressure” on Moscow.
The Kremlin’s spokesman has denied the risk to the plant is coming from Russian forces.
The potential for a life-threatening launch of radiation has been a priority since Russian troops invaded Ukraine final yr and seized the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear energy station. The head of the U.N.’s atomic power company spent months attempting to barter the institution of a security perimeter to guard the power as close by areas got here underneath repeated shelling, however he has been unsuccessful.
The International Atomic Energy Agency famous Thursday that “the military situation has become increasingly tense” whereas a Ukrainian counteroffensive that acquired underway this month unfolds in Zaporizhzhia province, the place the namesake plant is positioned, and in an adjoining a part of Donetsk province.
Although the final of the plant’s six reactors was shut down final fall to cut back the danger of a meltdown, consultants have warned {that a} radiation launch might nonetheless occur if the system that retains the reactors’ cores and spent nuclear gas cool loses energy or water.
During months of combating, Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over which aspect was rising the risk to the plant.
Ukrainian officers have accused Russia of mining the plant’s cooling system, already underneath risk from a dam collapse that drew down water in a reservoir utilized by the facility station.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”