Wagner chief accuses Russian military leadership of bombing his forces, vows response

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of private military group Wagner, has vowed to retaliate after accusing Russia's military leadership of killing a "huge amount" of his forces in strikes - prompting Russia's domestic intelligence service to open a criminal case against him.

In a series of Telegram posts on Friday, Prigozhin - who has frequently criticized Russia's traditional military hierarchy - accused them of "trying to deprive us of the opportunity to defend our homes and instead hunt down Wagner PMC."

He said strikes were launched "on our camps" and that "a huge amount of our fighters were killed, our comrades in arms. We will make a decision about how to respond to these atrocities. The next step is ours." Russia's Ministry of Defense has denied the claims, calling it an "informational provocation."

The mercenary then warned that retribution would be meted out. "We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers and return to the front, justice for the troops will be restored, and then justice for all of Russia," he added.

In a later Telegram post, Prigozhin clarified that his criticism of the Russian military leadership was a "march of justice" and not a coup. "This is not a military coup, this is a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way," Prigozhin said.

Wagner has played a prominent role in the Ukraine war, and Prigozhin, so far, has faced few consequences for his public feud with Russia's military leadership - where he has accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and armed forces chief Valery Gerasimov of not giving his forces ammunition.

Patience for his outbursts appeared to wane on Friday. Russian state media TASS said that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) had "initiated a criminal case on the fact of calling for an armed rebellion. We demand that illegal actions be stopped immediately."