Mercenary chief turns on Russia’s military leadership; Putin slams “treason”

PanARMENIAN.Net - The simmering conflict between Moscow’s military leadership and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the bombastic chief of private mercenary group Wagner, has dramatically escalated into an open insurrection that plunges Russia into renewed uncertainty, CNN reports.

Prigozhin unleashed a new tirade against the Russian military on Friday and then marched his troops into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, accusing him of “calling for an armed rebellion.”

The dramatic turn of events began on Friday when Prigozhin openly accused Russia’s military of attacking a Wagner camp and killing a “huge amount” of his men. He vowed to retaliate with force, insinuating that his forces would “destroy” any resistance, including roadblocks and aircraft.

“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country,” he said.

The crisis then deepened as Prigozhin declared his fighters had entered Russia’s Rostov region and occupied key military installations within its capital. That city, Rostov-on-Don, is the headquarters for Russia’s southern military command and home to some one million people.

Prigozhin released a video saying his forces would blockade Rostov-on-Don unless Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov come to meet him.

Prigozhin has spent months railing against Shoigu and Gerasimov who he blames for Moscow’s faltering invasion of Ukraine.

Putin on Saturday pledged to punish everyone involved in the “armed rebellion” and accused them of treason, CNBC reports.

In a televised address Saturday morning, Putin appealed to those who “by deceit or threats, were dragged into a criminal adventure, pushed onto the path of a serious crime — an armed rebellion.”

Putin also described the situation in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southwestern Russia near Ukraine, as difficult but said he would seek to stabilize the situation there.