WAGNER chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has finally spoken after a long week since he fled to Belarus following his failed uprising.
The Russian warlord has been remarkably silent since calling off his armed rebellion but has now come back fighting to thank his supporters and defend his mutinous actions.
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In his first statement since being shipped to Belarus and breaking a week-long silence, Prigozhin defended his violent mutiny as a “march to justice”.
He boldly claimed that his mission was to “fight the traitors and mobilise society”.
This followed with a call for the Russian public to stand up for his ruthless mercenary army as he pleaded: “We need your support more than ever.”
Putin’s former lapdog staged an armed insurrection on June 23 with the stated aim to oust Russia’s military leaders as he turned on the top brass in Moscow.
However, the steaming rebellion was blown out after Prigozhin struck a bitter deal with Vladimir Putin putting an end to an astonishing 36-hours that saw Wagner forces reach within 125 miles of Moscow.
In Monday’s message, Putin’s enemy number one also cryptically added: “In the near future, I am sure that you will see our next victories at the front.”
However, part of Prigozhin’s deal with the Russian leader forced Wagner recruits to chose between signing contacts with the Russian defence ministry or going home to their families.
And yet, Wagner was actively still seeking recruits on Monday using advertisements on Telegram – undermining the paid-killer group’s truce with the Kremlin.
The disgraced warlord has only spoken out one other time since his aborted “coup“.
On June 26, he explained on Telegram that he called his fighters back to prevent a bloodbath and denied accusations he had tried to launch a coup.
In his spitting defence from an unknown location, he said the insurrection was not aimed at “overthrowing the government” but an attempt to “avoid the destruction of Wagner”.
Prigozhin added that Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko had “held out his hand” to him after the rebellion.
Rumours have since been circulating that Prigozhin may be staying at a budget hotel in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
But the warlord has still not been seen in public and Prigozhin‘s press team said he cannot be reached at the moment.
Strangely, Prigozhin’s plane has been spotted by Flightradar24 flying between Belarus, Moscow and St. Petersburg – suggesting he is defying his exile orders from Putin.
Last week, Senator Mark Walker, chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, said there were reports Prigozhin was holed up in a hotel with no windows.
He explained: “There have been a number of Russian entity individuals who have run afoul of Putin over the last year and a half, who have mysteriously fallen out of fifth, sixth or seventh floor windows.”
Meanwhile, as the sharks circle a wounded Putin in the Kremlin, there have been calls for tougher punishment for the “traitors” who killed 15 Russian troops during their attempted “coup”.
Former military commander Andrey Gurulyov raged: “Who gave the command? Who launched the rocket? Traitors have to be destroyed!”
Igor Girkin, a former FSB intelligence officer who led Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, branded Putin’s response “pitiful”.
It has been also revealed that the FSB is still investigating Prigozhin despite Russia insisting all charges had been dropped against him.
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Iona Cleave
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