Laura Laplaud with AFP / Photo credit: HANDOUT / TELEGRAM/ @CONCORDGROUP_OFFICIAL / AFP
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8:40 a.m., June 24, 2023
“We are at HQ, it is 7:30 am” (0430 GMT), the leader of the paramilitary group said in a video on Telegram. “The military sites in Rostov are under control, including the airfield”. Evguéni Prigojine went into rebellion with the 25,000 men claimed by his group, after accusing the regular army of having bombarded his troops. Authorities have tightened security measures in Moscow and several other regions of Russia.
“We continue, we will go to the end,” Evguéni Prigojine launched in an audio message on Telegram. “We will destroy everything that gets in our way.” “We are all ready to die, all 25,000. And after that there will be another 25,000. he hammered afterwards.
“It was Putin himself who set up this machine”
According to Sergei Jirnov, an expert on Russia and a former FSB spy, this declaration of war was expected. “It was Putin himself who set up this machine and it is paradoxically this machine which got carried away and which has now started the march against Putin. But I am absolutely not surprised to see this rebellion of Prigojine but I was expecting it a little later, I was expecting it next year, quite simply because the presidential election takes place in 2024. I could very well see it coming in force against Putin during this election”, he said at the microphone of Europe 1.
During the night, the head of the Wagner group announced that he had crossed the border and entered Rostov, headquarters of the headquarters of the southern command of the Russian army from where military operations in Ukraine are coordinated. He also assured that his troops had shot down a Russian helicopter which had “opened fire on a civilian column”. “Anyone who comes between us and the Kremlin is going to be destroyed,” he said on Telegram.
“It’s a war within the war”
“It’s a war within a war but it’s the worst of wars, that means it’s a civil war. The effort of the Russian army is no longer directed towards Ukraine. Prigojine will- Will he stay alone or will he be joined by other armed people?” Asked the former FSB spy. Faced with this rebellion, Russian President Vladimir Putin should “soon” address the nation, the Kremlin announced on Saturday.
The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner claimed responsibility for the capture of Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine in May, claiming to be a “hero”, as “the only person who managed to do something about the ministry of the defense”. “It’s been ten months that he has been in open public struggle against the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, and the Chief of Staff Valéri Guerassimov”, specified Sergei Jirnov on Europe 1. The Russian general prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation for “armed mutiny” against Evguéni Prigojine.