The founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, has broken his silence with the broadcast of an eleven-minute audio in which he assures that the rebellion that his troops staged on Saturday never had the objective of overthrowing the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin also affirms that what he was looking for with this action was that justice be done for those responsible for the errors committed in Ukraine.
Wagner’s boss also asserts that the move was necessary to prevent the destruction of the company and that he finally decided to turn back to prevent the blood of Russian soldiers from being shed.
Prior to this crisis, Putin had ordered all “volunteer” units, including private military companies, to sign a contract with Defense by July 1.
“The aim of the march was not to allow the destruction of the Wagner Group, and not to overthrow the country’s power,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said.
In order not to lose control of his mercenary company, Prigozhin flatly refused to sign the contract with the Ministry of Defense, while other units, such as the Chechen Ajmat special forces, did accept and formalize their inclusion in the Russian Armed Forces. two weeks ago.
Hours before Prigozhin’s message, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, had advanced that the Wagner group will continue its activities in Mali and the Central African Republic, where it carries out troop training activities.
From Bangui, the Central African capital, a senior official from the presidency told the Afp news agency on Monday that Russia will continue to operate in the country, with the Wagner Group, which is currently fighting the rebellion together with the army, or with another contingent.
“The Central African Republic signed” in 2018 “a defense agreement with the Russian Federation and not with Wagner,” Fidèle Gouandjika, special advisor to the country’s president, Fautin Archange Touadéra, told Afp, adding: “Russia subcontracted with Wagner, if Russia no longer agrees with Wagner so it will send us a new contingent.”
Lavrov did not specify, however, what is going to happen in other countries where Prigozhin’s private military company operates, nor the final status of this mercenary company in what is today the main theater of war, Ukraine.
The advance of Wagner’s men from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow revealed “serious security problems” in Russia, Prigozhin said in his recording. The controversial businessman assured that his men blocked the military installations they encountered and that they had little resistance.
He also assured that the population was with them. “Civilians came out to meet us with Russian flags and Wagner emblems, they were happy when we came and walked past them,” he said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, has not revealed his whereabouts, although the Kremlin said on Saturday that he would leave for Belarus, although without specifying when.
