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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the one-time friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has now turned on him, gave an extraordinary address worthy of a Bond villain as his private mercenary army seemed poised to try to topple Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“We are at the (Rostov military) headquarters,” the bald Prigozhin, looking both fierce and sinister in his combat fatigues, said in a video apparently filmed at the headquarters of the Russian southern army military command center which he said his forces had taken over.
“It’s 7:30 am and we’ve taken Rostov’s military objects under our control including an airfield. The jets which are leaving for battle are moving as scheduled,” he said, jabbing his finger in the air every so often for emphasis. “There are no issues. Medical planes are taking off… We’ve taken it all under control.”
“The head of the general staff fled from here as soon as he found out that we were approaching the building,” he added, gloating.
Prigozhin seemed to want to assure viewers that his army was not doing anything to hurt the Russian war effort against Ukraine and called out what he said was a badly-run military campaign replete with lies about what was really going on.
“The main operational headquarters is functioning the usual way,” he said. “If you hear that something has collapsed on the front lines, we are not the reason for the collapse. When we came here we confirmed the news once again.”
Everything to know about the Wagner Group's attack on Russia
Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenary fighting force will not face charges and will instead be exiled despite leading an armed insurrection against Moscow on Saturday, the Kremlin said.
Prigozhin, owner and founder of the mercenary organization, called for an armed rebellion and threatened to rush Moscow in order to oust the official whom he accused of ordering the bombing of his war camps in Ukraine.
However, Prigozhin eventually agreed to halt the Wagner Group’s advance on Moscow just 120 miles from the capital after a day-long negotiation the mercenary leader had with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who was given permission to broker a deal with Progozhin by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s presidential plane left Moscow early Saturday, sparking rumors that he had fled the Russian capital as the Wagner Group’s forces advanced on the city.
The president’s aircraft was spotted on flight radar flying northwest from Moscow to the St. Petersburg area — but then disappeared from the system near the city of Tver, the BBC reported, where Putin owns a large rural retreat.
“Vast frontline territories have been lost,” he added. “There are three to four more soldiers being killed compared to what is being reported. What is reported is 10 times more compared to what is being said on TV. We have daily losses of up to 1,000 people that include those killed, those missing, and those injured, and those who don’t choose not to fight not because they are cowards but because they don’t have supplies and a command structure. “
The 62-year-old millionaire has had a long-standing feud with the Ministry of Defense, whose leaders he’s openly criticized for months in foul-mouthed rants as incompetent, accusing them of withholding arms and ammunition from his troops, who are fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.
Prigozhin began his career as a petty criminal — he was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981 and served 12 years in prison.
After his release, he opened a restaurant in St. Petersburg in the 1990s, where he became friendly with the city’s then-Deputy Mayor and future Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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