“Rebellion only to Expose Russia’s Ineffectual Conduct of Ukraine War:” Prigozhin

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, June 26: The Russian mercenary leader who led a mutiny that nearly reached Moscow said in a message released on Monday his forces had not intended to overthrow Russia’s government and had only demonstrated the weaknesses in Russian security.

In the first public remarks released since he was last seen on Saturday night smiling in the back of an SUV as he withdrew from a city occupied by his men, Yevgeny Prigozhin said the move was to register a protest over Russia’s ineffectual conduct of the war in Ukraine and his fighters had called off their campaign to avert bloodshed.

“We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government of the country,” Prigozhin said in an 11-minute audio message. Prigozhin repeated his frequent claim that Wagner was the most effective fighting force in Russia “and even the world”, and that it put to shame the units that Moscow had sent into Ukraine on February, 24, 2022. “Our march showed many things we discussed earlier: the serious problems with security in the country,” he said.

He said the way it had been able to seize the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don without bloodshed and to send an armed convoy to within 200 km of Moscow had been testament to the effectiveness of his fighters. “We showed a master class, as it should have been on February, 24, 2022. We did not have the goal of overthrowing the existing regime and the legally elected government,” he said.

Prigozhin renewed an allegation, so far unsupported by evidence, that the Russian military had attacked a Wagner camp with missiles and then helicopters, killing about 1,000 of his men, and said this had been the immediate trigger for what he called a “march of justice.”

Wagner stopped its advance towards Moscow at the moment when it realised that it would have to confront waiting Russian troops, and that blood would inevitably be shed, he said, reiterating an assertion he made on Saturday.

Prigozhin, a former close ally of President Vladimir Putin, stressed that Wagner had not spilt a drop of blood on the ground during its northward march, but regretted that his fighters had had to kill Russian servicemen who attacked their convoy from helicopters.

He also once more complained about a military order that all volunteer units including Wagner are meant to sign by July 1 placing themselves under the control of Russia’s Defence Ministry. Fewer than 2% of Wagner’s men have signed up, Prigozhin added. “The aim of the march was to avoid the destruction of Wagner,” he said.

In the recording, Prigozhin did not address any of the questions still surrounding the agreement brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that brought the mutiny to an end. The Kremlin said on Saturday that the deal had included dropping a criminal case against Prigozhin and his moving to Belarus. Prigozhin did not say where he was when he recorded his statement.

Prigozhin shocked the world by leading the armed mutiny, only to abruptly call it off as his fighters approached the capital after racing nearly 1,000 kms reaching about 200 kms close to Moscow.

Russia’s three main news agencies reported on Monday that a criminal case against Prigozhin had not been closed, despite an offer of immunity having been publicised as part of the deal that persuaded him to stand down.

Mikhail Mishustin, who leads Putin’s cabinet as his appointed prime minister, acknowledged that Russia had faced “a challenge to its stability” and called for public loyalty. “We need to act together, as one team, and maintain the unity of all forces, rallying around the president,” he told a televised government meeting.

There was no word about the revolt from Putin himself, who had said on Saturday the rebellion put Russia’s very existence under threat and vowed to punish those behind it. The Kremlin released a video from him congratulating participants of an industrial forum, containing no indication of when it had been filmed.

In another move apparently intended to convey normality, authorities released video showing Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. The mutineers had demanded he be sacked.