What is the Wagner Group, led by man accused of mutiny in Russia

Wagner Group chief has long been at odds with Russian military leaders over Ukraine war Yevgeny Prigozhin He escalated his feud to a new level on Friday when he blamed his fighters for the attack and vowed revenge.

The threat, sent through his official Telegram channel, sparked what appeared to be a crisis in Russia.

The country’s security service, the Federal Security Service, called on Prigozhin’s Wagner Group private army to refuse the order and detain him, opening a criminal investigation for “organizing an armed rebellion,” the attorney general’s office said.

Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev called it a backstab in a video on RBK broadcaster, calling it a “coup”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed and “necessary measures are being taken”.

Known as a “private military company” by Russia Wagner Group known as proxy force US officials and others, while others refer to it as a mercenary organization.

The company was founded in 2014 by Prigozhin, 61, who was previously known as “Putin’s chef” for his catering business catering for state events.

In December last year, the United States believed that Wagner Group had an estimated 50,000 employees in Ukraine, including about 10,000 contractors and 40,000 subcontractors. prisoners in russian prisonNational Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Russia denies Wagner Group involvement in its official military operations, but Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies Said it often has direct ties to the Russian government. It is said to have played a role in Russian operations in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.

“Wagner should not be viewed as a private military company but as a typical proxy organization,” the report said.

The U.S. Department of Defense said the Wagner Group had been active in Libya’s civil war and that Russia had sent it military equipment, including fighter jets and armored vehicles, to help Russia gain a foothold in the country say 2020.

The Wagner Group was also sent to the Central African Republic during the civil war, where the group He is accused Executions of civilians, attacks on UN peacekeepers and predominantly Muslim communities.

Top Western diplomat says Wagner Group Take control of a gold mine There.human rights watch said in a report Wagner Group forces are suspected of committing atrocities, including executions of unarmed people.

The U.S. designated the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization. In Africa, it has destabilized countries with “pervasive human rights violations and the extortion of natural resources from their peoples,” the U.S. Treasury Department said at the time. impose sanctions.

Ukraine War Helps Wagner Group influence growthNational Security Council spokesman Kirby said.

“His influence is growing. Wagner’s independence from the Russian Ministry of Defense will only grow and improve over the course of 10 months of this war,” Kirby said at a December news conference.

He said the Russian military has been relying on Ukrainian Wagner fighter jets and that Russian military officials have been under the Wagner Group’s command in some cases.

Prigoren has Accuses Russian military leadership of incompetence in Ukraine, but on Friday he publicly blamed the Russian military leadership for the attack on his troops. He claimed his rear camp had been hit by missiles.

Prigorzhin said Russia’s military leadership was responsible for the deaths of 2,000 fighters, but provided no evidence.

“Those who destroyed our lads and the lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers will be punished. I ask that no one resist,” Prigorzhin said in a series of audio messages posted on his official Telegram channel.

The security service of the Russian Federal Security Service responded by filing criminal charges against him for inciting armed rebellion.

Russia’s FSB said “his actions were a ‘stab in the back’ of Russian servicemen” and called on Wagner fighters to reject the order and detain Prigozhin. Russia denies Prigozhin’s claims.

Moscow has stepped up security measures, state news agency TASS reported, with video released by Reuters showing military vehicles near the Russian parliament early on Saturday local time.

Prigozhin denied it was an armed rebellion, but called it a “just march”.

He claimed his troops had entered Russia and “now we are entering Rostov”, referring to a city in southern Russia.