The armed mutiny that the head of the Wagner Group announced on Friday night came true at dawn on Saturday. After declaring himself in absentia and calling to “stop” the high command of the Russian Army, including the Defense Minister, Yevgueni Prigozhin has assured that his troops have returned to Russian territory and have entered Rostov-on-Don, one of the great Russian cities, with more than a million inhabitants.
Using his Telegram channel, Prigozhin claimed to have the Russian General Staff in that city under his control. “We are in the General Staff, 7:30 Moscow time (0430 GMT; 6:30 in Barcelona), we control the Rostov military installations, including the airfield,” he said in a video.
The Russian Defense Ministry and leading Russian generals have been calling for mercenaries since the crisis broke out. That department called the Wagner mutineers this Saturday to return to their barracks and guaranteed their safety. “You have been drawn into Prigozhin’s criminal adventure and participation in an armed rebellion,” the ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram.
On Friday night, Sergei Surovikin, deputy commander of the Russian campaign in Ukraine, urged private army fighters to abide by the command of the military leadership and return to their bases. “I address Wagner’s fighters and commanders. You and I have come a hard way. We fight with you, we take risks, we suffer losses, we win together. We are of the same blood. We are warriors. I ask you to stop. The enemy alone is waiting for the internal political situation to worsen,” Surovikin said in a video posted on social media.
In the same room, another message was recorded by Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekséyev, the first deputy head of the General Directorate of the General Staff. He called what is happening “madness” and noted that when a country is “in a difficult situation”, this kind of thing will lead to “huge losses, mainly political”. “It is a blow in the back to the country and the president (…) It is a coup. This is not what is needed now.”
The Federal Security Service (FSB, formerly KGB) asked the mercenaries to rebel against their boss, “not to make an irreparable mistake” and to “take measures for the arrest” of Prigozhin.
The controversial businessman declared on Saturday morning that as long as Wagner “does not have in his power the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valeri Gerasimov, and the Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, his mercenaries “will blockade the city of Rostov” and “advance towards Moscow”.
In anticipation of a worsening of the situation, the Russian Anti-Terrorist Committee declared this Saturday morning the counter-terrorist regime in Moscow and in the province of the same name, the state agency Ría Nóvosti reported.
Shortly before, the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, announced that “anti-terrorist measures” were being carried out. Already on Friday night some armored vehicles appeared on the streets of Moscow and local media said the Interior Ministry was taking additional measures at key facilities.
On Friday, the founder of the private army Wagner accused the Russian Army of attacking the camp of its fighters, encouraged a rebellion and assured that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is very close to Putin, would be arrested. Hours later, the FSB accused him of armed rebellion.
The Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee claimed that “the statements released on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin had no foundation” and announced that the FSB had opened a criminal case against the controversial Wagner chief for calling for “armed rebellion.”
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed the accusation and noted that the penalty for this crime is punishable by between 12 and 20 years in prison.
“Those who liquidated our boys, those who liquidated thousands and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished,” Prigozhin announced on Telegram on Friday, calling on forces under the Ministry of Defense not to resist Wagner because, otherwise, they will be “deleted immediately”.
After encouraging a “rebellion” against the military commanders, he claimed to have 25,000 men and called on the Russians, especially the soldiers, to join them. “We are 25,000 and we are going to determine why chaos reigns in the country (…) Our strategic reserves are the entire army and the entire country,” he said before continuing to call “anyone who wants to join us” to “end the mess”.
Wagner’s men spearheaded months of Russia’s offensive to take the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. During those combats, he harshly criticized Shoigu and the head of the Army, Valeri Gerasimov, for not sending enough ammunition to his men.
After opening the criminal case against him, Prigozhin said that the desire to end the reigning “chaos” is not a military coup. “It is a march for justice. Our actions will not interfere with (the activity) of the troops” in Ukraine, he assured.
In several messages on Telegram, Prigozhin accused the Ministry of Defense on Saturday of sending “18-year-old boys, who could be our children or grandchildren” to stop their advance.
“That’s why these boys are going to live and return to their mothers,” he added. “We only fight professionals, but if someone stops us on the way, we will annihilate them. We reach out to everyone, don’t spit on our hand,” she finished.
He also added that although his troops control the Rostov-on-Don airfield, missions aimed at Russian military intervention in Ukraine have not stopped. “The main command post works normally, there is no problem, not a single officer has been separated (from their duties). Therefore, if they tell you that Wagner hindered the work and that is why something collapsed at the front, know that It wasn’t for this,” he said.
