Prigogine’s first comment: "We did not go to overthrow the government"

The first commentary after the Saturday attempted rebellion was published on June 26 by the head of Wagner PMC Evgeny Prigozhin.

He stated that his plans were not to seize power or overthrow the regime. The task was different: to demonstrate disagreement with the decision of the Russian Ministry of Defense to sign contracts at the request of the head of department, Sergei Shoigu. Prigozhin claims that already on June 30, the Wagner company wanted to defiantly transfer military equipment to the ministry in Rostov-on-Don, near the headquarters of the Southern Military District. He tells, quotes dw:

“Despite the fact that we did not show any aggression, we were hit by a missile attack, and immediately after that, helicopters worked out. About 30 Wagner PMC fighters died, some were injured. This served as a trigger for the council of commanders to immediately adopt decision that we should advance immediately. We went to demonstrate our protest, and not to overthrow the government.”

Prigozhin says that the decision to turn around and move in the opposite direction was made after the first column approached Moscow at a distance of 200 km:

“We stopped at the moment when the first assault detachment, which approached 200 km from Moscow, deployed its artillery, reconnoitred the area, and it was obvious that at that moment a lot of blood would be shed. Therefore, we considered that the demonstration of what we were going to to do, it is sufficient. I want to point out that our march of justice showed many of the most serious security problems throughout the country. We blocked all military units and airfields that were in our way.”

Meanwhile British intelligence sources reported that Russian intelligence agencies threatened to harm the families of Wagner leaders before Yevgeny Prigozhin stopped his “offensive on Moscow.” It is also noted that the mercenary forces numbered only 8,000 fighters, not 25,000 as stated, and that they would most likely have been defeated in any attempt to take the Russian capital.

According to the head of the PMC, during the “march” only two Wagner militants were killed:

“Not a single soldier on the ground was killed. We regret that we were forced to strike at air assets, but these assets threw bombs and launched missile strikes.”

A video of the moment of the air strike on the Wagner convoy on the M-4 highway appeared on the network:

“The ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko,” says Prigozhin, “stretched out his hand and offered to find solutions for the further work of Wagner PMC in legal jurisdiction.”

Prigozhin did not provide any details of the deal, writes DW. Meanwhile, in Belarus, 200 km from Ukraine, camps for the Wagnerites are already being built. The first is designed for 8 thousand people and is located in Osipovichi, Mogilev region. The workers were tasked with building a 24,000-square-meter camp very quickly, writes “UP”.

The information that the mercenaries will be sent to Belarus is also confirmed by relatives of the Wagnerites. One of them, referring to her friend, said that the remaining units of the PMC “Wagner” in Rostov-on-Don were sent to Belarus. Another interlocutor said that her husband, who was in Rostov on Saturday, informed her about being sent to Belarus “most likely”, but did not get in touch again.

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