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Wagner goes on the offensive within Russia. Tales of 1917?
Russia eating its own
The last 24 hours, even the last 12 hours, has been absolutely crazy in Russia and this is very much a developing story.
What happened?
A few weeks ago, there were reports of Wagner mercenaries capturing and torturing Russian officers.
After this, Defence Minister Shoigu announced that all “volunteer units”(Including Wagner) would have to sign contracts and come under the control of the Ministry of Defence. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of PMC Wagner, and known as Putin’s Chef, rejected such demands.
In the last few days there were reports that Russian artillery shelled Wagner positions. Other reports say it was a missile strike. I can’t verify these reports but it seems this was the catalyst that sent Wagner on the march.
Very quickly they besieged the Southern District HQ at Rostov and tanks appeared on the streets of that city. I have friends in Rostov who were certainly alarmed by such events.
Shortly after, Wagner took control of facilities at Vorenezh, which is only 500km from Moscow.
It is reported also that Wagner shot down 3 military helicopters that were attacking the mercenary band.