The FSB has initiated a criminal investigation against PMC Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin for sedition, Russia’s Office of Prosecutor General confirms.
Prigozhin has been charged on Article 279 of the Russian Criminal Code. “He is facing 12 to 20 years in prison,” the Office of Prosecutor General says.
The FSB has stated that Prigozhin’s actions and statements are “virtually calls for the beginning of an armed civil conflict” in Russia and are “a hit in the back” of the Russian military.
“All that has been posted on social media on behalf of Prigozhin regarding the alleged missile and bomb attacks on the PMC Wagner units, said to be executed by the Defence Ministry, is but a provocation and is 100% untrue,” the FSB said in a statement.
The agency also called on the Wagner mercenaries not to follow Prigozhin’s “criminal orders” and do their best to detain him.
At about 21:10 Moscow time yesterday, The Wagner Group claimed that the Russian Defence Ministry units had carried out a missile strike on Wagner’s mercenary camp. A statement followed soon, saying that an armed conflict with Russia’s military leadership was underway.
Soon, Prigozhin’s press service posted a statement by Wagner Group military commanders.
“The council of the Wagner Group commanders has made the decision: the evil that the country’s military command is spreading should be stopped. They disregard the lives of soldiers, they have forgotten what the word ‘justice’ means, and we will reinstate it. Therefore, those who killed our guys today and dozens of thousands of Russian soldiers will be punished.”
“After we finish what we’ve started, we will return to the frontlines to defend our motherland. The presidential authority, the government, the Russian Interior Ministry, the Russian National Guard, and other structures will continue to work in the future. We will deal with those who are killing Russian soldiers and will be back,” Prigozhin said.
In another message, Prigozhin said that Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu had fled Rostov-on-Don.
“Shoigu has just cowardly run away from Rostov-on-Don. At 10:00 PM, he ran, like a coward, like a woman. To not explain why he scrambled helicopters to kill our men, why he launched the missile strikes. This scumbag will be stopped,” he noted.
Moreover, Prigozhin called on the Russian army and the whole country to join the Wagner Group and “end this disaster”.
