The transfer in direction of Moscow marked a drastic escalation in Prigozhin’s long-running feud with Russia’s Defence Ministry, whom he claimed Monday had deliberate for Wagner to “cease to exist” from July 1.
“Overnight, we have walked 780 kilometres, 200-something kilometres were left to Moscow,” Prigozhin claimed in his Monday message, regardless of no proof his Wagner forces made it that near the Russian capital.
“Not a single soldier on the ground was killed,” Prigozhin added.
“We regret that we were forced to strikes on aircraft … but these aircraft dropped bombs and launched missile strikes.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko “extended his hand” and supplied to search out options to additional the work of the Wagner Group in a authorized method, Prigozhin mentioned, mirroring the road that Minsk and the Kremlin has communicated about why the march — which for a number of hours seemed to be an armed riot on the Russian state — all of the sudden ended.
The future position of Prigozhin and his Wagner group stays unclear. The unit has been more and more important to Russia’s battle effort in Ukraine, however whether or not it’s going to live on in any significant capability is unsure.
The investigation into the legal case involving Prigozhin and his alleged involvement in organising an armed mutiny continues to be lively, Russian state news company TASS mentioned on Monday, citing a supply near the Prosecutor General’s Office.
On Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had instructed journalists a deal had been reached with Prigozhin and the fees towards him for calling for “an armed rebellion” can be dropped, with out offering a time-frame.
“We stopped at the moment when the detachment, which had approached Moscow, deployed its artillery, made a reconnaissance of the area, and it was obvious that at that moment a lot of blood would be shed. We felt that demonstrating what we were going to do was sufficient,” Prigozhin mentioned Monday.
Putin has not spoken in regards to the occasions since a televised deal with on Saturday, during which he threatened extreme punishments towards these conducting what he known as an “armed rebellion”.
A pre-recorded video of Putin addressing the “International Youth Industrial Forum” from behind a nondescript desk flanked by Russian flags was launched by the Kremlin on Monday, however there was no details about when or the place the clip was filmed.
In the brief video, Putin makes no point out of the occasions of the previous weekend, focusing as an alternative on the discussion board.
Prigozhin had beforehand accused Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s high common, Valery Gerasimov, of not giving his forces ammunition and was important of their dealing with of the battle, however he at all times defended the reasoning for the navy marketing campaign and steered away from criticizing Putin himself.
But he crossed these purple traces over the weekend. Late on Friday, Prigozhin accused Russia’s navy management of killing his fighters throughout a strike on a Wagner camp, which the Russian Defence Ministry has denied.
He additionally mentioned Moscow invaded Ukraine below false pretences devised by the Russian Ministry of Defence, and that Russia is definitely dropping floor on the battlefield.
“When we were told that we were at war with Ukraine, we went and fought. But it turned out that ammunition, weapons, all the money that was allocated is also being stolen, and the bureaucrats are sitting [idly], saving it for themselves, just for the occasion that happened today, when someone [is] marching to Moscow,” Prigozhin mentioned.
Source: www.9news.com.au
