Things took an interesting and “unprecedented” turn in Russia as Friday evening turned into Saturday morning and the Wagner Group — a paramilitary organization whose mercenaries were, until this point, fighting alongside Putin’s troops against Ukraine — made a 180-degree turn, entered Russia, and is reportedly making its way to Moscow with an axe to grind against Putin’s military leaders.
Nobody took things seriously at the beginning because they were thinking that this is just an op-ed to make Russia look weaker.
However, things are not looking good in Russia and it seems that the country is entering into a civil war!
At least that was confirmed by the Wagner group:
JUST IN – 'The civil war has officially begun' – Wagner-linked Telegram
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 24, 2023
Putin already made a state address:
🚨LATEST COUP UPDATES: PUTIN SPEAKS, PRIGOZHIN RESPONDS, HEAVY CLASHES BEGIN NEAR MOSCOW
– Putin FINALLY made a speech in which he mentioned “treason” and “mutiny” twice, talked about Russia “fighting hard for its future”, labelled the events as an “internal mutiny” and a “stab… pic.twitter.com/dXVeG72cw6
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 24, 2023
We have a collection of videos below and it seems that the country is really on the verge of a civil war:
Wagner leader Prigozhin has taken control of the military headquarters in Rostov:
"We control the military facilities of Rostov, including the airfield. The Chief of the General Staff fled from here as soon as he found out that we were coming.”
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 24, 2023
Wagner Chief is having a meeting with high-ranking military officials from the Russian army:
🚨BREAKING: Wagner Chief is shown casually meeting commander of the Southern Military District as well as the Deputy Defense Minister.
This is a VERY serious development as is shows HIGHLY SENIOR members of the Russian Military collaborating with Wagner in this apparent coup.… pic.twitter.com/SXuQ8pJqX1
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 24, 2023
WATCH: Tanks on the streets of Rostov-on-Don, Wagner takes control of the Russian army HQ in the region pic.twitter.com/QRPVGQ8N7y
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 24, 2023
March of Wagner PMC: what is known as of 13.00
We tried to put on the map all the events known by 13:00: PMC columns, according to preliminary information, reached the Voronezh region. About 170 pieces of equipment went further.
▪️The columns moved around – towards… pic.twitter.com/ROaqQdnRH4
— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) June 24, 2023
Helicopter attack:
Russian helicopter has bombed a fuel base in Voronezh, Russia. pic.twitter.com/XWMFwneeK6
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) June 24, 2023
⚡️#BREAKING Photo confirms that Wagner indeed downed a Russian helicopter pic.twitter.com/WV906GgWnw
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) June 24, 2023
The Russian national guard will enter Rostov to resume control of the city:
⚡️Russian national guard reportedly at the entrance to Rostov pic.twitter.com/fm6PYADMnY
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) June 24, 2023
BREAKING: Footage apparently shows Russian airstrike on Wagner convoy on the M4 highway earlier todaypic.twitter.com/0teWsdWDfR
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 24, 2023
Heavy Fighting is reported to now be ongoing in the Voronezh Region between the Wagner PMC Group and Forces within the Russian Military and National Guard; the Russian Air Force is also continuing to Target these Wagner Positions with Guided-Bombs and Rockets. pic.twitter.com/hPYh8Lj7Ri
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 24, 2023
🚨 Russian soldiers surrendered en masse to Wagner PMC in Voronezh.
Wagner now controls both Rostov (population 1.1 million) and Voronezh (also population 1.1 million). Wagner is now approaching Krasnodar (1 million) and Volgograd (950k) without any resistance. pic.twitter.com/fbcTAEsNrQ— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) June 24, 2023
More videos will be uploaded as our editor team is reviewing them!
According to BBC News, the Wagner Group’s leader — Yevgeny Prigozhin — recently took to social media network Telegram to claim “‘huge numbers’ of his fighters had been killed in a strike by the Russian military on a Wagner camp, though he provided no evidence to support his claims.” BBC noted that Prigozhin “has become increasingly vocal in his criticism of Russia’s military leaders” in recent months despite being, at least previously, a close confidant to Putin.
After Prigozhin made his claim, Russia turned around and launched an investigation against him for “inciting mutiny” and issued an arrest warrant as the paramilitary leader apparently made good on his promise to launch a “march for justice” against the “evil” in Russia’s military — leading Putin’s government to begin securing Moscow — according to The Wall Street Journal:
Russian authorities stepped up security in Moscow and issued an arrest warrant for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner paramilitary group, on charges of mutiny after he called on his troops to oust the country’s military leadership.
Prigozhin, a one-time confidant of President Vladimir Putin, called for retaliation after claiming that the Russian military killed “an enormous amount” of his troops in Friday’s strikes on Wagner camps. The military denied these strikes had occurred, and there was no independent evidence to back up his claim.
As Russian soldiers in armored personnel carriers secured key installations in Moscow, leading Russian military commanders who had worked with Wagner urged the group’s fighters to stop before it was too late. “The last thing we need is to unleash a real civil war inside the country. Come back to your senses,” urged Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, the deputy chief of Russian military intelligence.
While there were no reports of clashes, Prigozhin said that his forces will launch a “march for justice.” Early on Saturday morning, he said that his troops had already left eastern Ukraine and started entering the southern Russian city of Rostov, where he said young conscripts offered no resistance.
A Russian security source said that Wagner fighters had also seized military facilities in the city of Voronezh, further north on the road toward Moscow, where the governor said operations were underway to put down the mutiny. Reporters could not independently confirm the situation there.
In Moscow, there was an increased security presence on the streets. Red Square was blocked off by metal barriers.