24 June 2023

Vladimir Putin has accused Yevgeny Prigozhin of committing “treason”.

Vladimir Putin feels he’s been betrayed

The 70-year-old Russian President has hit out at Prigozhin during a televised address, after the 62-year-old warlord launched an uprising against the Russian army.

Putin said during his address: “It’s an attempt to subvert us from inside. This is treason in the face of those who are fighting on the front. This is a stab in the back of our troops and the people of Russia.”

However, Prigozhin has rubbished the idea that he’s launching a coup. Instead, he described the efforts of his Wagner mercenary group as a “march for justice”.

Prigozhin also claimed that the movement has already gained huge popularity within Russia.

He said: “There are 25,000 of us. Everyone who wants, join us.”

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The Wagner Group is a private army of mercenaries and they’ve actually been fighting alongside the regular Russian army during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

But Prigozhin – who is one of Russia’s most powerful men and the leader of the group – has called for a rebellion against the current regime.

Prigozhin said: “No one is going to turn themselves in at the request of the president … we don’t want the country to continue to live in corruption and lies.

“We are patriots, and those who are against us are the ones who gathered around the b*******.”

Despite this, Prigozhni has announced that his soldiers won’t march on Moscow, in a bid to avoid bloodshed.

He said in a statement: “They wanted to disband the Wagner military company. We embarked on a march of justice on 23 June.

“In 24 hours, we got to within 200 kilometres of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood.

“Now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Understanding responsibility [for the chance] that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.”