Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Russian Wagner private military company, accused the Russian ministry of defense of launching a strike on the camp of his fighters mercenaries.
In a passionate statement, Prigozhin expressed his outrage and vowed to put an end to defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s actions.
Prigozhin declared his intention to “restore justice” within the military and throughout Russian Federation. Wagner’s boss warned that resistance would be met with immediate destruction.
“A missile strike was launched on the camp of the Wagner PMC. There are many victims. According to the eyewitness fighters, the blow was struck from the rear side; that is, it was inflicted by the military of the Russian defence ministry,” Prigozhin claimed.
The owner of the PMC, accused of war crimes on different continents, claimed that many of his fighters were killed in the attack and claimed that the Wagner PMC would soon decide on their revenge for what he called an “atrocity.”
“We were wickedly deceived and tried to deprive us of the opportunity to defend our homes. We were ready to make concessions to the Defense Ministry, hand over our weapons, and find a solution to how we would continue to defend the country. But this scum did not calm down. Today, seeing that we are not broken, they launched missile attacks on our rear camps,” Prigozhin said.
“This creature will be stopped,” Prigozhin said of defence minister Shoigu.
The Russian ministry of defense swiftly responded to Prigozhin’s allegations, declaring that the messages and video footage attributed to him were a deliberate statement provocation and did not match reality.
“All the messages and video footage distributed on social networks on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin about the alleged strike by the Russian defence ministry on the ‘rear camps of the Wagner PMCs’ do not match reality and are an information provocation,” stated the Ministry of Defense.
According to RIA Novosti state propaganda media, the Russian Defence Ministry reiterated that the armed forces of the Russian Federation continue to carry out combat missions in Ukraine as part of a “special military operation,” as the Kremlin calls the all-out war against Ukrainians.
Just 30 minutes after his first statement regarding the missile strike on the military camp, Prigozhin recorded another audio message alleging that Shoigu had fled from Rostov-on-Don.
“Shoigu has just cowardly escaped from Rostov. At 21:00, he ran cowardly, like a woman. In order not to explain why he raised helicopters to destroy our men, why he launched missile strikes. This creature will be stopped,” Prigozhin said.
Prigozhin called on all residents of Russia to join him in his cause, rallying his support.
“There are 25 thousand of us, and we are going to figure out why lawlessness is happening in the country. 25 thousand are expected as a tactical reserve, and the strategic reserve is the whole army and the whole country—everyone who wants to join us. We need to end this mess,” Prigozhin said.
Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Russian president Putin, confirmed that President Putin is aware of the situation involving Yevgeny Prigozhin. Peskov assured that appropriate measures ‘are being taken in response’.
“President Putin has been briefed on all developments with Prigozhin. The necessary steps are being taken,” Peskov stated.
Meanwhile, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee announced that the Federal Security Service initiated a criminal case in response to the statements made by Yevgeny Prigozhin for inciting armed rebellion.
On the afternoon of June 23, Prigozhin said that he had written a statement to the Investigative Committee regarding Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov because they “are responsible for the genocide of the Russian people.”
The leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, decided to “open the eyes” of the Russians and said that no one had bombed Donbas. In addition, he said that the Russian Ministry of Defence was lying, that there had been no “fierce aggression” on the eve of the Russian invasion on February 24 2022, on behalf of Ukraine and NATO, and that they were not going to “attack” Russia, as Russian propagandists claimed.
