Boss Wagner speaks for first time since riot

Mr Prigozhin said the Wagner forces staged the march last weekend, which was seen as a riot, as a protest and not aimed at overthrowing the government.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military corporation Wagner, said on June 26 that he had sent two groups of soldiers to join the rebellion last weekend. One Wagner group went to the city of Rostov-on-Don and took control of the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District, while the other group marched to the capital Moscow.

"Our forces advanced 780 km during the night, leaving us only 200 km from Moscow," Prigozhin said, adding that the march to the Russian capital was aimed at preventing "the decision to destroy Wagner". The Wagner group was sent to Moscow and stopped after "seeing the risk of major bloodshed in the region".

Mr. Prigozhin declared that Wagner's activities on June 24 were "protests, not aimed at overthrowing the government", and affirmed that many people expressed support for the group.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military corporation Wagner in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on June 24. Photo: Reuters — Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military corporation Wagner in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on June 24. Photo: *Reuters*

"We felt that it was enough to demonstrate what we would do. At this point, Alexander Lukashenko reached out and offered to find a solution for the further work of the Wagner group within his authority," Prigozhin said, referring to the talks with the Belarusian president.

According to Mr. Prigozhin, the Russian Defense Ministry plans to end the existence of Wagner by requiring volunteer military units to sign contracts with the agency by July 1. Mr. Prigozhin said that some Wagner members have signed contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry , but "this is a minimum number, estimated at about 1-2% of the force".

Russia has not commented on the Wagner leader's information.

Thousands of Wagner troops entered Rostov province on June 24 after Prigozhin accused Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu of ordering the attack on the corporation’s barracks, causing heavy casualties. The Russian Defense Ministry denied this information.

After Wagner announced that its units would return to barracks to avoid bloodshed, the Kremlin said on June 25 that Prigozhin would leave Russia and head to Belarus. However, Prigozhin did not disclose his location in a message on June 26.

Russian officials reported damage to several homes and roads in the Wagner riots, as well as a large fire in Voronezh province that may have been linked to the incident. They said no casualties had been reported.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that US intelligence "hopes the rebellion will be successful", and announced that Russia is investigating the suspicion that Western intelligence was involved in the incident.

Mr. Lavrov also said that on June 25, US Ambassador Lynne Tracy discussed with Russian representatives, giving a "signal" that Washington was not involved in the rebellion and emphasizing that "this is Russia's internal matter".

Nguyen Tien (According to BelTA, AFP )

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