Mercenary Leader: I Wasn’t Trying To Overthrow Putin

The New York Times reports:

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group who mounted a brief uprising against Russia’s military command over the weekend, broke a long period of silence on Monday to deny, once more, that he had any intention of seizing power with his march on Moscow. “We went to demonstrate our protest, and not to overthrow the government in the country,” he said in an 11-minute, stream-of-consciousness voice memo published on the messaging app Telegram.

The statement renewed his sharp criticism of Russia’s military leadership, both for what he claims was shabby treatment of his fighters and its handling of the invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Prigozhin said the protest was aimed at a move by the Ministry of Defense to force his mercenaries to sign contracts with the government, which he said would have effectively halted Wagner’s activities in Ukraine as of July 1.

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Breaking News: In his first remarks since Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, denied trying to overthrow Vladimir Putin but renewed his criticism of Russia’s military. https://t.co/trDc7920cn

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 26, 2023