2023-06-26 19:15:00
The leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, published an audio message on Monday in which he gave his own version of what happened in Russia over the past weekend. “We were in a march to demonstrate our proposal, not to overthrow the Russian government”held.
In the 11-minute audio, Prigozhin says that the intention of his uprising was to save his paramilitary group and not to overthrow Russian power, according to the BBC. “We are not marching to overthrow the leadership of Russia,” he said.
Prigozhin launched his armed insurrection days following Putin announced that Wagner’s fighters had to sign contracts with the army. Saturday, Prigozhin had said that his group was in danger of disintegrating.
The Wagner group launched its uprising on Friday and shot down Russian military units.
In the audio sent on Monday, Prigozhin revealed that his group never signed any contract with the Russian Defense Ministry. And he added: “The aim of the march was to prevent the destruction of Wagner and hold officials accountable that, through their unprofessional actions, they have made a large number of mistakes.”
He also noted that the Wagner group regrets having to “attack Russian aircraft,” adding that they decided to withdraw “to avoid shedding the blood of Russian soldiers.”
What happened in Russia with the Wagner group
Yevgeny Prigozhin started his mutiny on Friday night, when he crossed the border from Ukraine into Russia and seized two strategic cities. Hours later, a convoy of Wagner mercenaries began its march towards Moscow on Saturday, having as its main objective the military leadership. However, they stopped following the intervention of the President of Belarus, Alexandr Lukashenko.
Until this Monday, Vladimir Putin had not expressed himself regarding what happened.
With a call, Lukashenko managed to convince the leader of the group to stop his operation and Prigozhin quickly agreed to “avoid a bloodbath”. Then he changed course to Belarus under the promise that there would be no charges once morest him or his men.
However, Lukashenko’s press service reported Monday that they did not know if Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus, so his whereregardings were unknown.
Putin did not speak regarding what happened
Shortly before the leader of the Wagner Group broke the silence on Monday, the Kremlin published a video with a message from President Vladimir Putin addressed to an industrial forum, in which he did not mention the dramatic events of the weekend.
Prigozhin has been harshly critical of Russia’s security forces, saying in his message on Monday that his march on Saturday revealed “the most serious security problems across the country.” According to his statement, his team managed to block “all” Russian military units and airfields in their path.
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