Wagner mercenaries threaten revenge, march on Moscow after Prigozhin’s death: ‘Expect us’
Purported members of the Russian Wagner mercenary group released chilling videos threatening revenge — and a new “March of Justice” on Moscow — after their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, reportedly died in a fiery jet crash.
A Telegram channel associated with Prigozhin’s private army released a short clip showing a trio of masked men dressed in camouflage and body armor making vague threats of retaliation.
“There are many discussions about what Wagner would do now,” one of the supposed mercenaries says in the 8-second video. “We’ll say one thing — we’re already starting off. Expect us.”
Some critics have raised questions about the authenticity of the footage, claiming it was the handiwork of Ukrainian security services aimed at sowing panic in Russia, but there was no concrete evidence to support that theory.
In a separate video, a man claiming to be a Wagner mercenary who fought in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut openly suggests that Russian President Vladimir Putin was to blame for the crash that killed Prigozhin and nine others in the Tver region Wednesday.
“Today we saw how the little Kremlin filth wiped out Yevgeny Viktorovich,” the masked fighter says in an altered voice, apparently referring to Russia’s leader.
He then goes on to issue a sinister “order” to all Wagner units to retrieve their “buried” assault rifles, machine guns and grenades, presumably in preparation for an unspecified retaliatory act.
“All of us who have fought all these years are seeing that this devil has played long enough,” the mercenary adds, again seemingly referencing Putin. “Await future orders, and victory will be ours. Glory to Russia!”
Meanwhile, a written post that appeared on a Telegram channel tied to the Wagner Group was even more blunt in assigning blame for the plane wreck.
“We directly say that we suspect Kremlin officials headed by Putin of an attempt to kill [Prigozhin],” the post reads.
Who was Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman following the plane crash that apparently killed him.
Prigozhin was the owner of the private military contractor Wagner Group.
Prigozhin planned to capture the Russian military’s top officials during his attempted coup.
Prigozhin and his mercenary fighting force did not face charges and were instead exiled despite leading an armed insurrection against the Kremlin.
Prigozhin began his career as a petty criminal — he was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981 and served 12 years in prison.
He criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense as incompetent and accused it of withholding arms and ammunition from his troops, who were fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.
Prigozhin was indicted in the United States for interfering in the 2016 presidential election through his infamous internet “troll factory.”
“If the information about Prigozhin’s death is confirmed — we will organize a second ‘March for Justice’ on Moscow!” the anonymous authors of the screed added, referring to the moniker for the warlord’s short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military brass in June.
The post concludes on a distinctly menacing note: “He better be alive, it’s in your best interests…”
Russia’s main investigative agency launched a probe into the crash, but no official cause has been released, giving rise to a flurry of speculations.
Some Russian social media outlets citing unnamed sources claimed that Prigozhin’s Embraer executive jet was shot out of the sky with air defense missiles. Others claimed it was brought down by the explosion of a bomb hidden inside a crate of wine.
Several prominent Kremlin critics pointed a finger at Putin, suggesting that the crash that took the lives of 10 people — among them Prigozhin, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, several staffers and the plane crew — was payback for the uprising that challenged his rule.
Two US officials speaking to Reuters on Thursday said preliminary information suggests that a surface-to-air missile originating within Russia was the likely culprit.
