Moscow announced on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were preparing to launch an offensive near the city of Baghmut in the east of the country, “taking advantage” of the chaos caused by “Wagner” commander Yevgeny Prigozhin’s call for an uprising. The Kremlin has confirmed it will launch an investigation into “organising armed rebellion” against the Russian military leadership.

The Kremlin confirmed on Saturday that the Russian Prosecutor General had briefed President Vladimir Putin on the investigation into “armed rebellion” opened following the Wagner Group’s uprising against the leadership of the Russian military.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov told Putin to “open a criminal investigation into an attempt to organize an armed rebellion.”

In an interview with Russian news agencies, Peskov said, “Special services and law enforcement agencies, namely, the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard, regularly inform the president of the measures taken to implement. The instructions given to them.”

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that “the Kiev regime is taking advantage of Prigozhin’s provocations, aimed at destabilizing the situation, to regroup units of the 35th and 36th Marine Brigades to launch offensive operations in the Pakmut region.” , indicating that its forces have targeted Ukrainian forces with aerial and artillery bombardment.

The Russian Federal Security Service said in a statement that “Prigozhin’s statements and actions are, in fact, a call to start an armed civil conflict on the territory of the Russian Federation and a stab in the back of Russian soldiers fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces,” and called on Wagner’s militia to “take steps to arrest him.”

On Friday, the commander of the Russian paramilitary “Wagner” group called for an armed revolt against the military leadership, which he accused of bombing camps for his forces in the back line in Ukraine and killing its members “on a massive scale”.

Prigogine denied that he was carrying out a “military coup” and insisted that he wanted to lead a “march for justice”.

The leader of the “Wagner” group said in an audio message broadcast by his media office: “This is not a military coup, but a march for justice. What we are doing is not to disrupt the armed forces.”

In an angry tone, Prigozhin said in an audio message released earlier by his office: “They launched attacks, missile attacks on our rear camps. Many of our fighters were killed.”

Prigozhin vowed to “respond” to the bombing, with Russian Defense Minister Shoigu confirming that he had given the order to carry it out.

He added that “the leadership of the Wagner group decided that those who take military responsibility in the country should be stopped,” insisting that the defense minister “will be stopped.”

Prigozhin called on the army to “not resist” his troops.

He stated that his militia numbered 25,000, and called on the Russians, especially the army, to join his ranks.

“There are 25,000 of us and we will resolve the cause of chaos in the country … our strategic presence is the entire army and the entire country,” he stressed, welcoming “all those who want to join us.” “to end the confusion”

For his part, the Russian defense announced on Friday that it would open an investigation against the leader of the “Wagner” group.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies, “The accusations aired against Yevgeny Prigozh are groundless. The Federal Security Service has opened an investigation into allegations of calling for armed insurrection.”

The Kremlin indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “aware” of Prigozhin’s allegations and that “necessary measures” were being taken.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies, “President Putin has been informed of all events surrounding (Wagner commander Yevgeny) Prigozhin. Necessary measures are being taken.”

Prigozhin said: “All Russian patriots, true patriots of the country, who know history, and are not admirers of a weak government that has betrayed the interests of the state, go down the street, we will find weapons. Tonight we will solve the problem. Traitors and criminals who insulted Russia. Their names are Shoigu, Gerasimov.” Comments expressed by a reporter are “free”.

Prigozhin has been accusing Shoigu and Gerasimov of being incompetent in their positions for months.

For the first time, on Friday, Prigozhin rejected the basic Russian justifications for the invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, in a video clip released by his media office on a Telegram application.

“Nothing unusual happened on February 24… the defense department is trying to deceive the community and the president and the strange Ukrainian aggression and Ukraine plans to attack us and the whole of NATO,” Prigozhin said. , describing the official version as “a beautiful story”.