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After Complete Silence Since Wagner's March Towards Moscow, the PMC's Chief Speaks for the First Time
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the enigmatic leader of the private military company known as the Wagner Group, has finally broken his silence. Following rumors of a mutiny, alleged house arrests, and Wagner's seemingly ominous march towards Moscow, Prigozhin released an 11-minute audio message detailing the circumstances that led to these unexpected events and their aftermath.
Summary of the 12-minute Speech, Translated:
Wagner has always operated according to Russian interests around the world. We had many successes in Ukraine.
According to plans made by malevolent elements, Wagner was supposed to cease operations on July 1, 2023.
Wagner commanders refused to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Those who wanted to transition from Wagner to the Ministry of Defense did so, but it is a negligible minority of 1-2 percent.
Despite Wagner showing no aggression, it was attacked with missiles and helicopters, 30 of our men were killed. This is what led to the decision to immediately march towards Moscow.
In one day, Wagner covered 780 km on the ground. Not a single soldier was killed on the ground. We are sorry that we had to target aircraft, but they dropped bombs and fired missiles at us.
On the day of the march, we blocked all Russian military bases on our way.
All participants in the march volunteered for it and knew what the objectives were.
The goals of the march were: To prevent the attempt to eliminate Wagner and to punish those responsible for the failures in managing the war in Ukraine.
We stopped after it became clear that there would be a lot of bloodshed. Demonstrating our intentions and capabilities was enough.
We went out to show resistance, but not to replace the existing regime.
The President of Belarus, Lukashenko, offered patronage for settling Wagner's status.
What happened - showed everyone the serious security problem in Russia. In one day we managed to cover a distance equal to the distance from the Russian border to Kiev, or from Kiev to the border with Poland.
If the war had been managed by units at the level of Wagner from the beginning - the war would have only lasted one day.