Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks from Rostov, Russia

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the one-time friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has now turned on him, gave an extraordinary address worthy of a Bond villain as his private mercenary army seemed poised to try to topple Vladimir Putin’s regime.

“We are at the (Rostov military) headquarters,” the bald Prigozhin, looking both fierce and sinister in his combat fatigues, said in a video apparently filmed at the headquarters of the Russian southern army military command center which he said his forces had taken over.

“It’s 7:30 am and we’ve taken Rostov’s military objects under our control including an airfield. The jets which are leaving for battle are moving as scheduled,” he said, jabbing his finger in the air every so often for emphasis. “There are no issues. Medical planes are taking off… We’ve taken it all under control.”

“The head of the general staff fled from here as soon as he found out that we were approaching the building,” he added, gloating.

Prigozhin seemed to want to assure viewers that his army was not doing anything to hurt the Russian war effort against Ukraine and called out what he said was a badly-run military campaign replete with lies about what was really going on.

“The main operational headquarters is functioning the usual way,” he said. “If you hear that something has collapsed on the front lines, we are not the reason for the collapse. When we came here we confirmed the news once again.”

“Vast frontline territories have been lost,” he added. “There are three to four more soldiers being killed compared to what is being reported. What is reported is 10 times more compared to what is being said on TV. We have daily losses of up to 1,000 people that include those killed, those missing, and those injured, and those who don’t choose not to fight not because they are cowards but because they don’t have supplies and a command structure. “

The 62-year-old millionaire has had a long-standing feud with the Ministry of Defense, whose leaders he’s openly criticized for months in foul-mouthed rants as incompetent, accusing them of withholding arms and ammunition from his troops, who are fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.

Prigozhin began his career as a petty criminal — he was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981 and served 12 years in prison.

After his release, he opened a restaurant in St. Petersburg in the 1990s, where he became friendly with the city’s then-Deputy Mayor and future Russian President Vladimir Putin.