Delivering mail in war-torn Ukraine: 'There are still people living here'

 Delivering mail in war-torn Ukraine: 'There are still people living here'

RIGA, Latvia — Russia's Federal Security Service on Friday night announced a criminal case against Wagner's mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin, accusing him of "inciting armed rebellion" after declaring open conflict with Russia's military rulers. and called on the Russians to join 25,000 Wagner fighters against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top commanders.

Prigozhin, whose private military company helped Russia seize the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, Moscow's only significant territorial gain this year, accused the Russian military on Friday of carrying out a strike on a Wagner camp , and seemed to threaten Shoigu, declaring "This scum is going to be arrested!"

In a rare late-night statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the situation and "all necessary steps" were being taken.

Security was tightened in Moscow at government facilities and key infrastructure, and the Russian National Guard and security forces were on high alert, the state-run Tass news agency reported.

Friday's bizarre and chaotic events were the latest sign of the damage Putin's war in Ukraine has wrought in Russia over the past year. The country's economy is battered by Western sanctions and hundreds of thousands of citizens fled a military mobilization last fall, even as the military campaign in Ukraine was largely at a standstill.

The announcement of the criminal case by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, signaled that Prigozhin could face imminent arrest for comments in which he said he would lead a "march of justice" against his enemies within the Russian Defense Ministry. Wagner's leader denied attempting a military coup.

Prigozhin is in a months-long feud with Shoigu and other regular military commanders, not least over complaints that Wagner's fighters have been denied enough ammunition. But Prigozhin's comments on Friday night were an extraordinary and hostile challenge to Russian military authorities and suggested the dispute was about to escalate into open war.

In a series of furious audio messages, Prigozhin accused Shoigu of flying to Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia specifically to launch a missile strike against Wagner, before fleeing the area on Friday evening.

The Russian Defense Ministry reacted quickly to Prigozhin's extraordinary threats, denying his claim that the military struck a Wagner camp, calling it an "informational provocation".

"The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to carry out combat missions on the line of contact with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the special military operation," the ministry said.

Delivering mail in war-torn Ukraine: 'There are still people living here'

In a bid to resolve the crisis, Russian General Sergei Surovikin, deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, who is said to have good relations with Prigozhin, called on him to end his threat of action.

“I ask you to stop. The enemy is just waiting for the internal political situation to worsen in our country,” Surovikin said, warning Prigozhin not to play into the enemy's hands.

“Before it is too late, it is necessary to obey the will and the order of the president elected by the people,” Surovikin said in a video. “Stop the columns. Bring them back to permanent deployment points. Solve all problems only by peaceful means under the direction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Prigozhin released a video on Friday purporting to show the strike on the camp where he says many of his fighters were killed. It depicted rising smoke and signs of destruction, but no evidence of the large number of casualties it claimed.

After a meeting he described as a council of Wagner war commanders, Prigozhin posted an audio message on Telegram on Friday evening warning that "those who destroyed our guys today, and tens of thousands of soldiers' lives Russians, will be punished. I'm not asking anyone to resist.

Any resistance would be considered a threat and immediately destroyed, including roadblocks and aircraft, he said.

Prigozhin, a billionaire, earned his fortune and the nickname "Putin's leader" through government catering contracts, including for schools and the military. As well as being one of Wagner's founders, he owned the Internet Research Agency, a notorious operator of "troll farms", and he bragged about interfering in the US election, for which he was placed under sanctions by the US Treasury Department.

In his running feud with the regular Russian army, Prigozhin repeatedly accused Shoigu and other commanders of depriving his fighters of sufficient ammunition in the long campaign to seize Bakhmut. Earlier on Friday, he released a separate statement claiming that military rulers tricked Putin into going to war in Ukraine in February 2022 by alleging non-existent threats.