Russia opens criminal case against Wagner chief for inciting armed rebellion

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) opened a criminal case against Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, just hours after he accused Moscow of lying about the war in Ukraine.

The NAC opened the criminal case against Prigozhin on allegations that he incited an armed rebellion, according to Russian state-run outlet TASS. The counterterrorism body is calling for the head of the private military company to immediately halt illegal activities.

Russian military bloggers and other sources have also confirmed the opened case against Prigozhin based on his recent comments.

Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin released a video that went viral in which he directly countered the Kremlin’s narrative for launching the war in Ukraine — to denazify and demilitarize Kyiv, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused of persecuting ethnic Russians and of attempting to destroy Russia on behalf of the U.S. and other western leaders.

“The war was not needed to return our Russian citizens and not to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine,” Prigozhin said. “The war was needed by oligarchs. It was needed by the clan that is today practically ruling in Russia.”

He said Ukraine never planned to attack Russia, contrary to Putin’s comments, and claimed Russian elites tried to plunder resources from Ukraine. The Wagner chief also accused Russia of lying about the number of casualties in the war and said soldiers were fleeing in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv pushes forward with a counteroffensive.

Later on Friday, Prigozhin released another video claiming to show the aftermath of a Russian strike on a Wagner Group camp, which he said killed scores of his fighters.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied those claims, saying the allegations “do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin is aware of the situation unfolding around Prigozhin and that all necessary measures were being taken, according to TASS.

The long-running feud between Prigozhin and Russian elites took a quick and sharp turn on Friday after months of tensions.

Prigozhin has played a key role in the war in Ukraine since the spring of 2022 and last month his mercenary fighters helped take the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region.

In the past several months, however, Prigozhin has repeatedly accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the commander overseeing Moscow’s war in Ukraine, of failing to provide enough supplies and of cowardice.

Prigozhin said his fighters engaged in a shootout with Russian soldiers during a withdrawal from Bakhmut and at one point, he allegedly captured a Russian officer.

The Kremlin responded by forcing allied fighters to sign a contract that would give Moscow more control over Wagner Group, but Prigozhin has resisted the order ahead of a July 1 deadline.