Chairman of the Wagner Group, Evgeny PrigozhinThe Russian leader, who led a revolt against the Russian military leadership over the weekend, said in his first statements after the failed rebellion: He just tried to save the private military company from disappearance and did not change the power..
“The purpose of the march was to prevent Wagner from getting lost (…) We didn’t want to overthrow “There is power in the country,” he said.
Prigozhin, this unit “as a result of intrigues, it would have disappeared on July 1” From the Russian military elite.
This is the deadline set by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu so that all volunteers participating in the war in Ukraine would be outlawed by the Wagner Group, which refused this condition.
Pointing out that “only a few fighters from the private army have agreed to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense”, he added that the obligation to be subordinate to Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valeri Gerasimov was on the table. at least appropriate”.
He explained that Wagner intended it. move all your troops and equipment to Rostov-on-Don on June 30 to “publicly hand over” their weapons to the Russian Army.
Although we showed no signs of aggression, they attacked us first with missiles and then with helicopters. About 30 Wagner soldiers were killed and some wounded,” he said.
The last straw for Prigozhin’s patience The alleged missile bombardment by Russian forces of a mercenary camp in the rear of Russia in Ukraine.
Condemning the attack, Wagner’s boss announced that he and his men crossed the Russian border in the Rostov region and started a “march for justice”.
According to Prigozhin, during the walk It lasted 24 hours and the mercenaries traveled 780 kilometers.“One column left for Rostov and another for Moscow.
He confirmed that not a single Russian soldier had died on land, and regretted that his troops had to respond to attacks by aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Armed Forces, which attempted to intercept the convoys and killed two in Wagner’s ranks. .
According to local media, about ten pilots died in the anti-terrorist operation on the Russian side, something Prigozhin did not mention.
“We started our march against injustice.. (…) We approached 200 kilometers from Moscow in 24 hours, entered the city of Rostov-on-Don and got it. The civilians were happy to see us. We gave an example of how it should have been when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, 2022.
Prigozhin, who did not disclose his current whereabouts and future plans after agreeing with the Kremlin on his exile in Belarus, reiterated that his aim was not to “overthrow the legitimate government of the country”.
“We came back to avoid shedding the blood of Russian soldiers,” he stressed, as he had already said on Saturday when he ordered the return of his men to Wagner bases.
“Our march brought to the table many of the things we talked about earlier: serious security issues across the country. We’ve closed all troops and airfields in our way.”
Emphasizing that the mercenaries covered a great distance in just one day, Çavuşoğlu said, “If the actions at the head of the Russian military special operations were carried out by a unit like Wagner, probably the campaign would have lasted 24 hours“.
“We show the level of organization that the Russian Army should have”He claimed.