Wagner chief said he never intended to overthrow Russian leadership
2 min read 27 Jun 2023, 01:35 AM ISTWagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had never intended to overthrow the Russian government but was acting to prevent the destruction of his private military company and to force accountability on commanders who had botched Russia's military campaign in Ukraine
PremiumYevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner group chief, Monday said he had never intended to overthrow the Russian government but was acting to prevent the destruction of his private military company and to force accountability on commanders who had botched Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, multiple reports said.
In his 11-minute audio message on social media, Prigozhin said the group had intended to register a protest at the ineffectual conduct of the war in Ukraine.
“We started our march because of an injustice," he said, giving no details about where he was or what his plans were.
"We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government of the country," Reuters quoted Prigozhin as saying in his audio message. "Our march showed many things we discussed earlier: the serious problems with security in the country."
While his men were just 200 kilometres from marching to a heavily-fortified Moscow, Prigozhin said his fighters halted their campaign in order to avert bloodshed.
"We halted at the moment when the first assault unit deployed its artillery (near Moscow), conducted reconnaissance and realised that a lot of blood would be spilled," Prigozhin said.
The Kremlin managed to negotiate a deal with Wagner chief with the help of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Prigozhin further said the Belarusian President had offered to let Wagner operate under a legal framework, but he did not elaborate.
Prigozhin shocked the world by leading Saturday's armed revolt, only to abruptly call it off as his fighters just 200 kilometres from marching to a heavily-fortified Moscow. Prigozhin had agreed to halt the advance in a proposed settlement including security guarantees for his Wagner troops.
President Vladimir Putin in a televised address to the nation had called the rebellion a ‘betrayal’ and ‘treason’ and had vowed ‘inevitable punishment’ to the rebels.
The 62-year-old Wagner chief, a former Putin ally and ex-convict, has long ties to Putin and won lucrative catering contracts from the Kremlin, earning the nickname ‘Putin’s chef'.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia's intelligence services were investigating whether Western spy agencies played a role in the aborted mutiny, the TASS news agency reported. It cited no evidence.
US President Joe Biden called the mutiny "part of a struggle within the Russian system". He had discussed it in a conference call with key allies who agreed it was vital not to let Putin blame it on the West or NATO, he said.
"We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it," Biden said.
(With input from agencies)
