MOSCOW: A criminal case has been opened against the Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin amid the seriousness of the situation and a threat of escalating confrontation in Russia, Federal Security Service’s Public Relations Center said, as per reports.
“Amid the seriousness of the situation and the threat of escalation of confrontation in the Russian Federation the FSB has opened a criminal case into the fact of a call for an armed rebellion on the part of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” it said.
Mikhail Mishustin, who leads Putin’s cabinet, acknowledged that Russia had faced “a challenge to its stability”. “We need to act together, as one team, and maintain the unity of all forces, rallying around the President,” he said.
Meanwhile, the mercenary group leader re-emerged on Monday, two days after leading an aborted mutiny, saying he had never intended to overthrow the government and giving few clues about his own fate or the deal under which he stood down.
Last seen on Saturday night smiling and high-fiving bystanders from the back of an SUV as he withdrew from a city occupied by his men, Prigozhin said his fighters had halted their campaign to avert bloodshed. “We went for a demonstration, not to overthrow the government,” Prigozhin said in an 11-minute audio message. “Our march showed many things we discussed earlier: the serious problems with security in the country.”