Riotous events in Russia after Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s overnight surprise decision to rebel against the Russian high command and call on Russian soldiers on the Ukrainian front to join him.

It was preceded by Prigozhin’s announcement yesterday that the Russian army is retreating and “drowning in its own blood” in Zaporizhia, Kherson and Bakhmut while the Ukrainians are successfully counterattacking in the south and southwest. He also stated that “the war was necessary for some bastards who wanted to to be promoted”, and the “oligarchs” who “needed” him and intended to share the spoils, while Kiev was, according to him, “ready to accept any agreement”.

Soon after, Putin’s chief mercenary and former ally accused the Russian military of shelling the group’s camps, killing many militants, and vowed revenge.

“Those who killed our lads, who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished,” he said.

Then began an all-night battle between the two sides and Prigozhin’s advance towards Russian territory which alerted the Russian authorities.

The head of Wagner says he has 25,000 fighters under his command and warned that “we will destroy anyone who gets in our way”.

In fact, he announced in the early hours of the morning that his fighters shot down a Russian military helicopter, without specifying where exactly.

Moscow accused the founder of the mercenary company of inciting armed rebellion, attempted coup and inciting civil war and put him on high alert.

“Anti-terrorist activities are being carried out in the Russian capital,” the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said this morning, “with the aim of strengthening security measures.”

For its part, the FSB (Russia’s secret service) launched an investigation into inciting armed rebellion and called on Wagner’s mercenaries to arrest their leader and disobey his “criminal and treasonous orders” aimed at inciting “civil war”. .