Russian Wagner Group militia rebels against President Putin

By India Today World Desk: Russia mobilized military vehicles and tightened security outside government installations and key locations following threats from the Wagner mercenary group of “armed mutiny.”

According to the TASS news agency, citing a source, military vehicles were seen in central Moscow early Saturday morning.

The event comes a day after Russia opened a criminal investigation into calls for an “armed riot” after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, accused Moscow of attacking his forces. with deadly missile attacks and vowed to retaliate.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin had called on the Russians to join his forces and punish Moscow’s military leadership in the boldest challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year.

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He swore to avenge what he claimed, without evidence, to be the murder of 2,000 of his fighters by the Russian military.

While Prigozhin’s private military team has spearheaded much of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, in recent months it has become embroiled in a bitter dispute with Moscow’s military leadership that he says has now spilled over onto the battlefield. .

He has repeatedly blamed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov for the deaths of his fighters on the battlefield.

However, Russia denied the same yesterday, saying that the statements “do not correspond to reality.”

‘IT’S NOT A BEAT’

“They (the Russian military) carried out missile attacks on our rear camps. A large number of our fighters, our comrades were killed,” Prigozhin said in a series of audio messages posted by his spokesmen.

“The council of commanders of PMC Wagner has made a decision: the evil brought by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he said.

“Anyone who resists, we will consider them a threat and destroy them immediately. We need to end this mess. This is not a military coup, but a justice march,” he added.

(With contributions from AFP)