Wagner Group's veterans ordered to wait on high alert – Russian media
Veterans of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) have been ordered to wait for a sign to join Yevgeny Prigozhin's rebellion.
Source: Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories), a Russian website focused on investigative journalism, citing one of the mercenaries who participated in the invasion of Ukraine
Details: The mercenary said that veterans of the Wagner PMC who wished to take part in the armed rebellion have been ordered to wait for the signal in full combat readiness.
Quote: "We await an official order from Papa [Yevgeny Prigozhin]. Rosgvardia [the Russian National Guard] and the army refused to follow orders, and we have been ordered to wait in full combat readiness.
There should be an order for further action in the afternoon."
Details: Novaya Gazeta Europe later reported that on Friday, 23 June, the Wagner Group leadership ordered the fighters based in the Moscow district to be prepared to meet the "units that will be arriving".
Two Wagner Group fighters who are currently on leave in the Moscow district told Novaya Gazeta that yesterday they were contacted by the representatives of Wagner Group leadership and ordered them to "be prepared to move to meet the incoming [Wagner Group] units".
Background:
- On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He has therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
- Prigozhin claimed that his forces had taken control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the air base, and were heading "to Moscow" and that his soldiers had shot down three Russian helicopters. Wagner mercenaries have also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.
- In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is "fighting for survival" and that there are attempts to "organise a rebellion" in the country.
- UK Defence Intelligence reported that Wagner Group fighters are aiming to reach Moscow.
- On the afternoon of 24 June, Russian media reported that the Office of the President of the Russian Federation anticipates that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters will likely reach Moscow’s outskirts in the next few hours, with fighting expected near Russia’s capital.
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