The head of the Wagner mercenary group said today he had crossed into Russia with his forces to topple Moscow’s military leadership, saying he and his 25,000 fighters were “ready to die”.
“All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, said in an audio message, after earlier accusing the Russian top brass of launching strikes against his men.
“We are dying for the Russian people.”
In response, Russian authorities said security had been tightened in several regions and the mayor of Moscow announced that “anti-terrorist” measures were being taken in the capital.
The FSB security service accused Prigozhin of attempting to launch a “civil conflict” and urged Wagner fighters to detain him.
“We will destroy everything that stands in our way,” Prigozhin said earlier, in the most audacious challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year.
