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The Russian invasion of Ukraine took a drastic turn on Jun. 24 (Singapore time) as Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian warlord and leader of the notorious mercenary group Wagner, seemingly launched an armed coup against elements of the Russian leadership.

Russian officials have formally called for Prigozhin's arrest for "urging armed mutiny" as videos appeared to show Wagner forces marching in the Russian city of Rostov, and military vehicles moving about Moscow, the Russian capital.

Who is Prigozhin?

Prigozhin, known as Putin's Chef, is a Russian ex-convict who established a business empire in the 1990s. ABC Australia reported that by the early 2000s, Prigozhin had become close to Vladimir Putin, regularly hosting him to meals at his high-end restaurant in St Petersburg.

This friendship led to lucrative contracts that enriched Prigozhin, who established the secretive, paramilitary mercenary group known as Wagner.

Wagner in Ukraine

Made up primarily of ex-Russian soldiers, Wagner was sighted in Africa, the Middle East and in 2014, the Eastern region of Ukraine as Russia illegally annexed Crimea. Both the Russian government and Prigozhin himself disavowed any links to Wagner, as late as 2021.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 however, Prigozhin no longer denied leadership of Wagner, which was involved in some of the fiercest battles of the war. In late 2022, Wagner hurled its forces at the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in a grinding, drawn-out battle of attrition. Casualty estimates were in the thousands, possibly more.

Prigozhin himself appeared in a number of social media videos, blasting the Russian defence ministry for supposedly not providing his fighters with much-needed ammunition. He frequently called out Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian military chief Valery Gerasimov by name.

Seeds of rebellion

In late May 2023, Wagner finally claimed that it had taken Bakhmut and began withdrawing its units, saying it would hand over control of the ruined city to the Russian military.

In June 2023, the Russian defence ministry moved to take direct control of Wagner forces. The BBC reported that "volunteer formations" would be asked to sign contracts with the Russian government.

While this order did not mention Wagner by name, Prigozhin furiously objected and said that Wagner fighters would "boycott" such contracts.

Said Russia had no justification for invading Ukraine

In an extraordinary video posted to his Telegram channel on Friday, Jun. 23, Prigozhin accused Russian leaders of lying to the public about their justifications for invading Ukraine in the first place.

According to the Guardian, contrary to Putin's stated excuse that Ukraine was planning to attack Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine prior to Feb. 2022, Prigozhin said there was "nothing extraordinary" happening.

He also blamed Putin for not taking the opportunity to negotiate with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.

He further accused Shoigu of glory-hunting and blamed Russian leadership for the thousands of Russian casualties during the invasion.

Attempted coup

On Jun. 24 (Singapore time), videos emerged of Wagner forces marching in the streets of Rostov-on-don, a city in southern Russia that is home to a Russian military headquarters overseeing the invasion of Ukraine.

The New York Times reported that Prigozhin was seen in the courtyard of the military headquarters, posing with some of his fighters.

Prigozhin claimed that Wagner faced no resistance at the Russian border as his forces crossed over from Ukraine. He added that on the contrary, he was welcomed by those Russian soldiers.

According to NPR, Prigozhin proclaimed "We will destroy anyone who stands in our way," and "We are moving forward and will go until the end."

While he launched familiar tirades against Shoigu, Prigozhin notably did not speak of rebelling against Putin's regime, nor did he mention ousting Putin. Instead, he said that his forces would "punish Shoigu" and urged Russian soldiers not to resist him.

Russia responds

Meanwhile, Russian authorities said they would charge Prigozhin with attempting an armed rebellion.

The Russian defence ministry also made a direct appeal to Wagner fighters, exhorting them to abandon Prigozhin, NBC News reported.

In perhaps the most direct rebuke of Prigozhin so far, Russia's President Vladimir Putin appeared in an emergency TV broadcast on Jun. 24 (Singapore time).

Without mentioning Prigozhin by name, he lashed out at the events, calling it a betrayal and a "knife in the back" of the Russian people, the BBC reported.

He also vowed to punish those involved in this "betrayal".

❗️Full morning of 24 June address by Putin to the nation in regards to the military coup:

"I appeal to the citizens of Russia, to the personnel of the Armed Forces, law enforcement and security services, fighters and commanders currently fighting on their positions, repelling… pic.twitter.com/5ymC5VZyVE

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) June 24, 2023

Top image from Prigozhin Telegram and WarTranslated Twitter.