Wagner Group’s Yevgeny Prigozhin accused of trying to stage coup against Russia

The owner of the Wagner private military group has accused Russia of bombing his camps in Ukraine — and is facing arrest on mutiny charges after urging an armed rebellion to oust the country’s defense minister in retaliation.

Yevgeny Prigozhin posted a series of video and audio recordings online in which he claimed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu launched a rocket strike against his camp, killing “a huge number” of soldiers who were fighting on Russia’s behalf in its war against Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, he accused Shoigu of leading Russia into war under false pretenses, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the months-long war of words between the two edges on open conflict.

Prigozhin said his mercenaries would now punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance. 

“The evil that the military leadership of the country brings forward must be stopped. They have forgotten the word ‘justice,’ and we will return it,” Prigozhin said in an audio recording posted on Wagner’s social media Friday, according to the Journal.

“Anyone attempting resistance will be considered a threat and immediately destroyed. This includes all the checkpoints on our path and any aircraft above our heads.”

The Ministry of Defense in Moscow has denied his claims about the attack. The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services, or FSB, has opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin on charges of inciting an armed rebellion, state media reported.

Russian generals accused the outspoken Prigozhin of attempting to mount an armed coup against President Vladimir Putin, according to the New York Times.

Russia deployed armored vehicles into the streets of Moscow and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near the Ukrainian front lines in the area where Prigozhin’s troops were deployed in response, the Times reported. There have been no reports of any fighting in the streets.

“This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin declared.

The state news agency Tass said Putin is aware of the situation.

The FSB urged Wagner’s soldiers to arrest Prigozhin on mutiny charges and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting an armed conflict in Russia.

Russia’s chief prosecutor said the criminal investigation was justified and that an armed rebellion charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Since Russia launched its war in Ukraine 16 months ago, Wagner’s forces have been among the most successful even as Russia’s invasion has largely been stalled by Ukraine’s defense forces, backed by Western allies.

Wagner troops successfully took the city of Bakhmut, where some of the most grueling and bloodiest fighting of the war took place. It was the only advance made by Russia last year.

Prigozhin has been critical of Russia’s military brass since it was hired to fight, accusing leaders of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition. His feud with Shoigu dates back years.

His words on Friday, however, were a more direct challenge.

The Russian Defense Ministry required all military contractors to sign contracts with it before July 1, but Prigozhin refused to comply.

Prigozhin said in a statement Friday he was willing to find a compromise with the Defense Ministry, but “they have treacherously cheated us.”

“Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,” he said.

Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike on Wagner and then “cowardly” fled.

“This scum will be stopped,” he said, in reference to Shoigu.

With Post wires