Moscow (EFE) that he called for an armed uprising against the Russian Defense Ministry.
“We call on the fighters of the private army not to make an irreparable mistake, to cease any armed action against the Russian people, not to carry out Prigozhin’s criminal and treasonous orders, to take measures for his arrest,” the FSB said in a comment quoted by Interfax.
According to the entity, “Prigozhin’s statements and actions are in fact a call to start an armed civil conflict on Russian territory and are a blow in the back to the Russian military fighting against Ukrainian pro-fascist forces.”
“All the information spread on social networks on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin about the alleged shelling by Wagner’s rear units does not correspond to reality and is an informational provocation,” he added.
The FSB indicated that “the directorate of investigations (…) initiated a legitimate and substantiated criminal case against Prigozhin” for “organizing an armed rebellion”, a crime that carries penalties of between 12 and 20 years in prison.
Prigozhin accused the Russian Army of shelling the positions of the private military company on Friday and vowed to punish the culprits.
Wagner’s boss asked the forces under the Ministry of Defense not to resist because, otherwise, they will be “eliminated immediately.”
“We are 25,000 and we are going to find out why there is chaos in the country,” Prigozhin wrote, while denying that it was a coup.
He assured that the desire to put an end to the reigning “chaos” “is not a coup d’état”, but a “march for justice” and that military operations would not be affected by Wagner’s actions.
According to Prigozhin, after “dealing with” those who “annihilate” Russian soldiers, Wagner’s fighters will “return to the front.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the “situation around Prigozhin” and that appropriate measures were being taken.