The head of the Wagner mercenary group reacted to speech in which the Russian president promised to crush the rebellion, saying his men are not Putin traitors, saying his men are not traitors and will not surrender to the authorities.
The Kremlin leader said in a televised speech that the armed uprising by paramilitaries was a “betrayal” and that its instigators will face justice. “About the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots. We have fought before and are still fighting, and no one intends to surrender at the request of the president, the Federal Security Service (FSB) or anyone else.” , Prigozhin said in a new audio posted on his Telegram channel. The mercenary leader added that he and his men do not want “the country to continue to live in corruption, lies and bureaucracy”.
Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov has opened a criminal case “in connection with an attempt to organize an armed rebellion,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.
A former close ally of Putin, Prigozhin has deployed his private army to fight in Ukraine, but has clashed with Moscow’s military leadership in recent months, repeatedly accusing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov of about the mass deaths of fighters in the invasion of Ukraine.
“They robbed us”
In his message after Putin’s speech, Prigozhin said that “when we fought in Africa, they told us we needed Africa and then they abandoned it because they stole all the aid money.” He stressed that when the Ukrainian campaign began, the fighters of the Wagner group went to fight, “but it turned out that ammunition, weapons and all the money intended for them were also stolen.”
“On the other hand, the officials save to their advantage, for the case as happened today, when someone advances towards Moscow. Now they spare nothing: they attack peaceful columns with planes and helicopters,” he denounced, referring to the bombings launched by the Air Force against vehicles of the Wagner Group, advancing through the Voronezh region towards Moscow.
md (EFE, Reuters, AFP)
Source: Terra
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