The leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Saturday that he had taken control of the Russian army headquarters in Rostov (south) without firing a single shot and that he had the support of the population.
“Why does the country support us? Because we are marching for justice,” Prigozhin, accused of “treason” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in an audio message posted on Telegram.
“We entered Rostov and, without firing a single shot, we took the headquarters building” from the army headquarters, he added.
The head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, today claimed the occupation of Rostov, a key city in southern Russia for the war in Ukraine, and called for a rebellion against the Russian military command, which he accused of attacking its fighters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the paramilitary group’s action a rebellion, saying it was a “deadly threat” to the Russian state and treason, guaranteeing a “civil war” would not ensue.
Prigozhin had earlier accused the Russian army of attacking his mercenary camps, causing “a large number of casualties”, accusations denied by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Prigozhin’s accusations expose the deep tensions within Moscow’s forces over the offensive in Ukraine.
Source: TSF
