Fears of a civil war are spreading across the Russian Federation this weekend as Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) chief, who for months has been something of an ace up Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sleeve, has turned on the Kremlin, with the latest reports suggesting he and his loyal ‘musicians’ are on the march east toward Moscow after already having seized key cities in the south.
The events unfolding today, June 24th—which so far have seen Russia’s armed forces, including the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Russia’s National Guard Rapid Response Unit (SOBR), scramble at home to confront a potentially armed insurrection—were first sparked on Friday, June 23rd when Prigozhin released a video on Telegram purporting to show the aftermath of a Russian Defense Ministry missile attack on Wagner fighters at a “rear base.”
In a series of audio recordings posted to his personal Telegram channel that followed, Prigozhin threatened to lead an armed campaign to “punish” the Ministry of Defense officials who he claims were responsible for the alleged attack. The Wagner chief insisted that this is not a military coup, but instead said he and his fighters are waging a “march of justice.”
“We are 25,000 strong, and we’re going to get to the bottom of the lawlessness in this country,” he said. Adding that Wagner decided to “stop the evil that [Russia’s] military leadership is carrying out.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense quickly responded to Prigozhin’s accusations, calling them “an informational false flag.”
“All of the reports and video footage from Yevgeny Prigozhin circulating on social media and allegedly showing ‘a Defense Ministry strike on Wagner Group rear camps’ do not correspond to reality and are an informational false flag,” the statement reads.
In a separate video posted to social media, Prigozhin said:
The Wagner Group commanders’ council has made a decision. The evil that the country’s military leadership is carrying out must be stopped. They neglect soldiers’ lives. They’ve forgotten the word “justice” and we’re bringing it back. Those who destroyed our guys today, those who destroyed many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers’ lives will be punished.
I ask that no one put up resistance. Anyone who tries to resist we will consider a threat, and we will swiftly eliminate it. Including any checkpoints we meet on the road. Any aircraft we spot above us. I ask that everyone remain calm and not succumb to provocation, and remain at home. Be advised not to go outside along our route.
After we finish what we’ve started, we’ll return to the front to defend our Motherland. Presidential power, the government, the Internal Affairs Ministry, the National Guard, and other structures will work as they did before. We’ll deal with anyone who destroys the lives of Russian soldiers, and we’ll return to the front. Justice for the troops will be restored, and after that, justice for all of Russia.
Shortly thereafter, Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee announced that the Federal Security Service (FSB) had opened up a criminal case against Wagner chief Prigozhin for “incitement to armed rebellion:” a charge that holds a prison sentence between 12 and 20 years.
Overnight, in the early hours of Saturday morning, Prigozhin kept good on his promises, as he and his Wagner fighters marched east, seizing control of key military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Some hours later, a video was published showing a meeting between Yevgeny Prigozhin, Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, and Deputy Chief of Staff Vladimir Alexeyev at the local defense minister’s headquarters in Rostov-on-Don.
In the meeting, Prigozhin threatens to both block Rostov and move toward Moscow with his troops. Various reports have suggested that Wagner PMC troops have planted anti-tank mines at the city’s entrances, erected blockades, and have fighters manning checkpoints that lead into and out of the city.
Pro-Kadyrov Chechen forces are reportedly en route to Rostov to counter Wagner. Civilians in the city are currently being evacuated by train.
Responding to the rapidly unfolding events, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an emergency address to the nation, condemning the insurrection and calling for national unity among Russian citizens.
“Those who organized and prepared the armed insurrection, who raised their weapons against their comrades-in-arms, have betrayed Russia,” Putin began. “They will be held accountable for it. I call on those who are being dragged into this crime not to make the fatal, tragic, and irreparable mistake, and to make the only right choice: to stop participating in criminal actions.”
A couple of hours after Putin’s address, at around noon Moscow time on Saturday, Prigozhin released yet another audio message on Telegram where he responded to the Russian president’s statements. Prigozhin called Putin’s remarks “sorely mistaken” and referred to Wagner fighters as true patriots.
In the address, which can be read in English here, Prigozhin says:
Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president is sorely mistaken. We’re patriots of our motherland. We’ve fought and we’ll continue fighting. All Wagner Group fighters. And none of us is going to turn himself in at the demand of the president, the FSB, or anybody else. Because we don’t want the country to go on living in corruption, deception, and bureaucracy.
Now, Prigozhin’s forces appear to be marching toward Moscow.
Deputy of the Tula City Duma Vladimir Timakov, in a Telegram post this afternoon, spoke of columns of Wagnerites that were passing through the Tula region, several hundred kilometers to Moscow, on their way to the Russian capital.
While they were buying water, bread, just in case, and refueling, military aircraft continuously made their way in the direction of Moscow. The distance between the machines is about a hundred meters so that more than one target is not hit by the air. Tanks on platforms, guns, air defense systems, and jeeps with machine guns (Syrian type). Civilian trucks were also traveling in the convoy, it seems, with fighters loaded inside. There are Russian flags on the cockpits, some have chevrons—a skull, the emblem of Wagner.
Meanwhile, video footage has surfaced apparently showing Wagner forces on their way to Moscow after having broken through a cordon of trucks blocking the highway.
The latest reports suggest that Wagner troops have entered Russia’s Lipetsk region, which lies about 360 kilometers south of Moscow, considerably closer to the capital than Rostov-on-Don, where Wagner troops appeared last night. The governor of Lipetsk province has confirmed that Wagnerites are present in the region.
The BBC Russia has reported that public buildings across Moscow are being evacuated as Wagner troops advance.
Amid the chaos, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday reached out to the Russian president by phone, expressing his full support against the Prigozhin-led coup attempt. Erodgan said he backed the Kremlin’s handling of the situation, and said Turkey was ready and willing to do its part to help peacefully resolve the situation as soon as possible.
