Aborted rise up: Prigozhin explains why Wagner made an approximately-face in Russia

Eleven minutes. This is the duration of the remaining voice message published on Telegram from Evgueni Prigojine and the primary because the announcement on Saturday of the withdrawal of Wagner’s troops, then on their manner to Moscow. The chief of the paramilitary group, whose whereabouts are nevertheless unknown, explains at duration what his aim changed into while he known as for a “march” on Moscow on Friday and why he sooner or later turned around.

“The motive of the march became now not to permit the destruction of the Wagner institution”, defined Evgueni Prigojine. The head of Wagner had accused the Russian military of having bombed certainly one of its camps in Ukraine, causing thirty deaths and justifying in his eyes the want to “stop” the military command. Wagner’s troops then marched in the direction of Moscow, after seizing several military web sites in Rostov. But Evgueni Prigojine assures him this Monday, in his message: the objective was “not to overthrow electricity in the united states of america”.

“Serious security problems”

Evgueni Prigojine notes, in his message, that his men advanced closer to the Russian capital, covering 780 km and stopping “barely extra than two hundred km from Moscow”. “The march introduced to light severe protection problems within the usa,” noted Yevgeny Prigozhin. If Wagner’s boss didn’t go in addition, it became due to the fact he didn’t want to “shed Russian blood”. And the chief of Wagner to report what he and his troops noticed all through their increase: “Some (habitants) got here to satisfy us with Russian flags and Wagner trademarks, they had been satisfied. »

 

According to Evgueni Prigojine, this “march” closer to Moscow did no longer go smoothly. He repeated that his guys had shot down Russian air pressure plane, which Moscow did not verify. “We are sorry to have had to fire on the air force, but they were throwing bombs and rockets at us,” he said.

Prigozhin in Belarus?

Evgueni Prigojine does not, however, pour out a great deal approximately Wagner’s destiny or his very own after what looks as if, something he says, an abortive insurrection. After the settlement to “keep away from a massacre”, signed between Wagner and the Kremlin, the boss of the paramilitary institution turned into generally to enroll in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered Wagner’s fallback deal, “stretched out his hand and provided to find solutions for the continuation of the Wagner Group’s work in a criminal way”, Yevgeny Prigozhin revealed in his message. , this Monday.

The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, had earlier introduced that Wagner will maintain to operate in the Central African Republic and Mali, with out understanding extra approximately the position that the paramilitary group will now play in Ukraine.