The Russian military was thrown into disarray after the leader of a private mercenary group rebelled against the Kremlin on Friday, marking the greatest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s leadership in over two decades.
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led his troops out of Ukraine and into a key city south of Moscow, dealing a blow to Russian military efforts and raising the stakes of civil war amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin responded to the move on Friday, calling the uprising “a stab in the back.”
The revolt comes after Prigozhin accused the Russian military of attacking his Wagner military forces on Friday, vowing to retaliate against the Kremlin. The Wagner leader accused the Russian military of killing a “huge amount” of his men, warning he would “destroy” any resistance to their group.
“There are 25,000 of us, and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country,” Prigozhin said.
The group of mercenaries then marched to Rostov-on-Don, with Prigozhin releasing a video saying they would blockade the area until Russia’s top military generals came to meet with them.
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