2023-06-24 18:22:30
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Wagner’s forces advance near Voronezh
June 24, 2023, 10:22 GMT
Last updated 1 hour ago
The commander of Wagner’s forces, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that he ordered his fighters to return to their camps to stop the bloodshed, after they were 200 kilometers from Moscow.
This came amid news of mediation led by Belarusian President Lukashenko between Putin and Prigozhin to stop the armed confrontation between the forces of the two sides.
Wagner’s forces of Russian mercenaries continued to advance towards the Russian capital, Moscow, and on Saturday evening became approximately 370 kilometers away from it.
The governor of the Lipetsk region, Igor Artamonov, said Wagner’s forces were crossing the area around 2pm GMT.
“All security elements and authorities are taking all necessary measures to secure the population, and the situation is under control,” Artamonov wrote on social media.
A video clip posted on social media showed Wagner forces advancing with their armored vehicles in the city of Voronezh on the road connecting Rostov in the far south and Moscow.
The BBC was able to confirm the authenticity of the video clip.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decision allowing the authorities to detain people in places where martial law was imposed for a period of 30 days.
For his part, Vladislav Shapsa, mayor of the Kiluga region on the outskirts of Moscow, said that the movement of civilians in the area was restricted until further notice.
Shapsa said, “Please do not travel on the roads, and do not use private cars except in cases of necessity.”
On Saturday morning, Putin said that the events taking place in the south of the country are a “stab in the back” and a “treason” that requires “severe punishment”.
In an address Saturday to the nation via television and Russian local media, Putin stressed that all appropriate orders and directives were given to commanders and soldiers in a timely manner.
This comes after statements and decisions challenging the leadership by the leader and founder of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who accuses the army leadership of launching missile attacks on his forces in Ukraine.
Wagner announced control of the city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border, and it said later that it also took control of the city of Voronezh on the road between Rostov and the capital, Moscow.
Prigozhin called for an uprising against the leaders of the Russian army, but stressed that he was not calling for a coup.
And British intelligence services had indicated that Wagner soldiers had been moving since Saturday morning towards the capital, Moscow, from the southern city of Voronezh, which they took control of hours ago.
image copyrightEPA/Shutterstock
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Putin acknowledges that the security situation in the city of Rostov is difficult after Wagner forces took control of it.
Although Putin did not explicitly mention Prigozhin by his name during his speech, he vowed to punish all those behind the “armed insurrection”.
Putin admitted that the security situation in the city of Rostov was difficult after Wagner forces took control of it.
On Friday, Prigozhin sharply criticized the leaders of the Russian army, accusing them of launching a deadly missile attack on his forces in Ukraine.
After the Russian authorities announced the opening of an investigation with Prigozhin, the latter pledged to “continue to the end” and “destroy everything that stands in his way,” stressing that his forces had entered Russian territory.
He said, in an audio message posted on the social networking platform “Telegram”, that “the evil carried by the Russian military leadership must stop.”
He said: “Those who killed our sons and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers (in the war in Ukraine) will be punished.”
He added, “I ask you not to resist, anyone who does this will be considered a threat to us and will be destroyed. This applies to any checkpoints and flights on our way.”
He said, “This is not a military coup, but rather a march towards justice. Our actions do not affect the Russian forces in any way.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that “all reports published by Prigozhin on social media” about Russian strikes on the Wagner camps “are incorrect and are a media provocation.”
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Wagnerian elements dominate the streets of Rostov
In an audio post on Telegram on Saturday, Prigozhin confirmed that all of Wagner’s forces, which number more than 25,000 people, are “ready to die” to achieve their goal of isolating the Russian military leaders.
“We are all ready to die, all 25,000 of us, and after them 25,000, for the sake of the Russian people,” he said.
On Friday evening, Russia witnessed a disruption of internet services and tightened security measures, amid a wide spread of military vehicles, especially in the streets of the capital.
During the past months, Prigozhin has been accusing the leaders of the Russian army of obstructing the work of his forces in Ukraine and preventing supplies from them on various fronts, and has repeatedly threatened to withdraw his forces.
image copyrightArchyde.com
Analysis by Steve Rosenberg
Russian Affairs Editor – Moscow
Prigozhin said he was marching from Rostov-on-Don, on the border with Ukraine in the Russian south, to the capital, Moscow.
Security measures around Moscow will be increased continuously, and military fortifications will be deployed to stop his forces.
Today we have already heard about the activation of “anti-terror” measures in Moscow, and the authorities are doing their best to contain the situation.
It seems that the situation is very difficult for Moscow, and the control of Wagner’s forces over the main city of Rostov in the south greatly embarrasses Russian President Putin.
Prigozhin’s accusations against Shoigu add to the situation, especially his accusation of starting the war not with the aim of denazification of Ukraine, as Putin justified at the beginning of the war, but with the aim of obtaining personal gain. These accusations contradict the narrative adopted by Putin and justified the “special military operation” in Ukraine in earlier times. .
This position on the part of Prigozhin destroys the Kremlin’s narrative regarding the war in Ukraine, and poses a danger to the Russian government, especially in light of the failure of the military operations in Ukraine to proceed as Moscow planned, and the absence of any signs of achieving victory despite the passage of nearly 16 months since the start of the war.
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