Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin accuses Russian military leaders of targeting his troops
The head of the Wagner mercenary group has accused Russian military leaders of targeting his troops.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said the attack happened after he criticised the country’s top brass in an explosive outburst on the Telegram messaging app.
In a video, he had said the Kremlin’s rationale for invading Ukraine last February was based on lies – and the “evil” of Russia’s military leadership must be stopped.
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Drone footage shows Bakhmut devastation
Prigozhin has since claimed the country’s defence ministry ordered a rocket strike on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine – killing scores of his fighters.
He warned that his troops will move to punish defence minister Sergei Shoigu – and urged the army not to offer resistance.
“This is not an armed rebellion, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin said.
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry rejected his claims – describing the allegations as “untrue and an informational provocation”.
According to the TASS news agency, President Vladimir Putin has been made aware of the latest developments, and “necessary measures are being taken”.
It has also been reported that the FSB security service has now opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for armed mutiny.
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Sky News analyses Prigozhin videos
An escalation
In his Telegram clip earlier on Friday, the Wagner chief had dismissed Moscow’s core justifications for invading Ukraine last February in what it called a “special military operation”.
Prigozhin said: “The defence ministry is trying to deceive society and the president and tell us a story about how there was crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they were planning to attack us with the whole of NATO.”
The mercenary chief went on to claim “the war wasn’t needed to demilitarise or denazify Ukraine” – and was driven by a desire to enrich the ruling elite.
He also argued that Moscow could have struck a deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the war began.
The Wagner group, a private military company, played an instrumental role in helping Russia capture the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month.
It was a long and bloody battle, with Wagner relying on tens of thousands of convicts who were promised pardons if they survived six months of fighting.
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Footage shows Bakhmut devastation
‘Sailing close to the wind’
While Prigozhin has repeatedly attacked Moscow, he has stopped short of criticising President Vladimir Putin directly.
Nonetheless, his latest claims contradict Putin’s narrative, with Russian authorities imposing fines and prison terms for those who spread “falsehoods” about the conflict.
Prigozhin’s latest video claims that tens of thousands of young Russian lives have been sacrificed needlessly, while the nation’s top brass swill vodka and cognac while dining on caviar.
On Thursday, he had accused senior members of the military of lying to Putin and the Ukrainian people about the scale of Russian losses in Ukraine, as well as setbacks on the battlefield.
And in previous clips, he was shown standing in front of slain troops in Ukraine and yelling insults at military leadership.
He shouted: “They came here as volunteers and they died to let you lounge in your mahogany offices. You are sitting in your expensive clubs, your children are enjoying good living and filming videos on YouTube. Those who don’t give us ammunition will be eaten alive in hell.”
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Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “Prigozhin is now sailing much closer to the wind than he ever has.
“If your military forces are divided and if they’re not fighting together effectively, then your military operations will suffer accordingly and that’s exactly what’s happening here.”
And Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political commentator, described Prigozhin as “the second-most popular man after Putin” and a “symbol of Russia’s military victory for millions of people”.
There has been speculation that Prigozhin has ambitions for high office, with his criticisms creating the illusion that he is an outsider.
But Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment said Prigozhin owes his position and wealth to Putin, adding: “He is playing an independent politician, raising the stakes and testing the system’s limits.
“But it’s only technically and physically possible for as long as Putin finds him useful and is amused by his escapades.”
A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.
At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.
Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.
Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.
Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.
Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau holding a press conference in Bangkok. Pic: Central Investigation Bureau/AP
An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.
He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.
She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.
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Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.
“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”
World
Tomorrowland: ‘Devastating’ blaze destroys main stage at major festival – two days before it was due to begin
A huge fire has destroyed the main stage of a major festival in Belgium – two days before it was due to begin.
Tomorrowland is a dance music event as big as Glastonbury – and David Guetta was due to perform.
Footage showed flames and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland on Wednesday.
The fire gutted the main stage
Fire crews attempt to bring the blaze under control
The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is one of the biggest in Europe and attracts about 400,000 people over two consecutive weekends.
It is famous for its immersive and elaborate designs and attracts big names within dance music – including Guetta, best known for tracks When Love Takes Over and Titanium.
Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and Charlotte de Witte were also due to perform, along with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz and Alok.
Black smoke could be seen rising into the sky
The festival’s website described the creative elements which went into the elaborate main stage.
The theme, described as Orbyz, was “set in a magical universe made entirely out of ice” and “full of mythical creatures”.
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Organisers said no one was injured in the blaze but confirmed “our beloved main stage has been severely damaged”, adding they were “devastated”.
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen added: “We received some truly terrible news today. A fire broke out on the Tomorrowland site … and our main stage was essentially destroyed there, which is truly awful.
“That’s a stage that took years to build, with so much love and passion. So I think a lot of people are devastated.”
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen told reporters ‘a lot of people are devastated’
Despite the fire, Tomorrowland organisers said they were still expecting 38,000 festivalgoers at DreamVille, the event’s campsite.
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Syrian Defence Ministry in Damascus. Pic: AP
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
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Syrian presenter interrupted by Israeli airstrike
The Syrian armour was attacked as it entered the area around Sweida in the Druze heartland of southern Syria following factional fighting there.
The flare-up reportedly began with clashes between Bedouin and Druze groups that ended in scores killed.
The background to the escalation is complicated.
At least three Druze militia groups are divided in their loyalties to different religious leaders and differ over how they should respond to calls to assimilate into the new post-revolutionary Syria.
Druze from Syria and Israel protest on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Pic: AP
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Israel is becoming more and more involved in Syria’s internecine war and says it will remain there indefinitely “to protect our communities and thwart any threat”.
Its critics say Israel is operating a policy of divide and rule in Syria, weakening the fledgling government and creating a buffer zone to protect the border with the Golan Heights – originally Syrian territory that it has occupied and annexed for almost half a century.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has used airstrikes to destroy of much of Syria’s military capability weakening its ability to impose control on outlying regions. This makes it more not less likely Israel will have a volatile unstable state on its northern border.
Syrian security forces walk along a street in the southern Druze city of Sweida. Pic: Reuters
America and European powers have chosen to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus and lift sanctions.
In contrast Israel has occupied its territory, bombed its military and today hit one of its government buildings in the capital with an airstrike.
Since its crushing military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel has emerged as the unchallenged military power of the region.
There is however a limit to what blunt force can achieve alone. It requires diplomacy to achieve lasting gains and Israel’s repeated assaults on multiple neighbours combined with its relentless campaign in Gaza are winning it few friends in the region.
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