Wagner boss Prigozhin says Russia's 'evil' defense ministry 'must be stopped' in latest shocking provocation
- Wagner Group boss Prigozhin accused Russia of attacking his mercenaries on Friday.
- In response, the warlord called Russia's defense ministry "evil" and said it "must be stopped."
Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin blasted Russia's defense ministry as "evil" on Friday, saying Moscow's military leadership "must be stopped" after an alleged missile strike killed scores of his fighters, allegations immediately denied by that Russia's ministry of defense.
In a statement shared to social media, Prigozhin seemed to openly declare taking up arms against Russia's defense ministry in an escalation of his simmering stand-off, saying that those who were responsible for the death of the Wagner mercenaries and Russian soldiers should be "punished."
"PMC Wagner Commanders' Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped," Prigozhin said, according to a translation of his statement. "They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word 'justice', and we will bring it back."
"I'm asking: no one resist. Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way," the Wagner chief said. "And any aviation that we see above our heads. I'm asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside."
Prigozhin noted that the presidential authority — a nod to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has historically been Prigozhin's patron — "will continue operating as before," and that Wagner will eventually return to the front lines whenever it is done; it was not immediately clear what uses of force that Prigozhin was ordering to seek justice for what he claims was an attack on his employees.
Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin published a video to his Telegram account that he claimed to show the aftermath of a missile attack on Wagner Group positions. He accused Russia's defense ministry of carrying out the attack, in which he claimed a "huge amount" of his mercenaries were killed; these claims could not be immediately confirmed, and Russia's ministry of defense countered that they are lies.
The video, around one minute and 20 seconds long, shows debris and destruction in an open clearing surrounded by a dense forest. At one point, the camera pans over to a crater, where two small fires are blazing. It's not immediately clear where, exactly, the strike took place.
Russia's defense ministry denied Prigozhin's accusations.
"All the messages and videos speaded in social networks on behalf of E. Prigozhin about the alleged 'strike of the Russian Ministry of Defense against the 'rear camps of the Wagner PMC' are untrue and are an informational provocation," Russia's defense ministry said on Telegram.
"The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to carry out combat tasks on the line of contact with the AFU in the area of the special military operation," Moscow said, referring to its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Friday's alleged missile strike — and Prigozhin's retaliation comments — represent the most serious escalation in the deepening feud between Wagner and Moscow.
Mercenaries from the private military company have battled alongside Russia's regular military in eastern Ukraine and played a key role in Moscow's efforts to capture Bakhmut. After months of bloody fighting, Prigozhin successfully spearheaded the seizure of the war-torn city, delivering Russia a rare victory at a huge expense and, for a time, increasing his political cache.
Prigozhin has frequently ripped into Russian military leadership, issuing shocking threats, scathing statements, and expletive-filled tirades over Moscow's consistent battlefield failures and incompetence, in turn raising questions about how long he would be allowed to blatantly disregard Moscow's draconian war-time censorship.