Burc Eruygur
22 August 2023•Update: 23 August 2023
ISTANBUL
The head of the Wagner paramilitary group shared his first video address since a failed “armed rebellion” against the Russian leadership.
“We're working at a temperature of 50 degrees. Everything is as we want it to be. Wagner is conducting exploration and search activities,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in footage recorded at an unknown location, where he is wearing camouflage and holding a rifle.
In the video shared by pro-Wagner Telegram channels late Monday, Prigozhin said that the group is making Russia stronger across all continents, claiming they are also making Africa “even freer.”
“Justice and happiness for the African peoples. We are nightmare of ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other gangs. We hire real heroes and continue to fulfill the tasks that were set and which we promised that we could handle,” Prigozhin further said.
On June 24, Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry of attacking the group’s fighters in Ukraine, declared a "March of Justice" and set off toward Moscow.
The Russian Federal Security Service designated the group's action "an armed rebellion" and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while President Vladimir Putin called the private military company's uprising an act of "treason."
Prigozhin, however, later turned back "to avoid bloodshed" and has since been said to have moved to Belarus under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
