Former FSB agent Igor Girkin, convicted in The Hague for the downing of flight MH17 in 2014, accuses the leader of the mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, of plotting a mutiny in Russia.

He says Chef Putin’s insults to the Russian military are unacceptable and signal a split in the Russian elite, something Prigozhin will exploit as his private army retreats from Bakhmut.

• “However, I did not hear that Wagner swore never to fight against the Russian army. Against Russia. It’s just a mercenary organization,” Girkin said.

• “Where is the reaction of the Armed Forces, the command, the reaction of the state to the fact that a person with extremely low, I would say, social obligations directly insults the Armed Forces, regardless of their current state? (…) To insult the entire army in this way is a crime. The law seems to ignore Prigozhin’s behavior and words. A crime against the spirit of the army and the country…”

• Later he added: “In fact, with his statements, Prigozhin took a step towards rebellion. This is, of course, a pseudo-elite, but for now these are our VIPs. Prigozhin is a person close to the president, (…) but when among these elites there are people who openly disrespect the law, people who demand redistribution of positions in this elite, this is where the rebellion begins. It never starts from the bottom, but always from the top. (…) Prigozhin practically declared war on part of the army and the state nomenclature. Obviously, he is not alone: ​​if he was alone, he would be taken out.

He adds that if Russia misses the upcoming counteroffensive, the political situation in the country may become unrecognizable by the end of the summer.

“Putin’s cook” again criticized the Russian military leadership and stated that Moscow failed to make the Ukrainian army one of the strongest in the world.

Prigozhin even criticized the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu.

Pro-Kremlin journalist Kostyantyn Dolgov was released a day after publishing a major interview with the founder and financier of Wagner’s mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In an interview with pro-Kremlin strategist Konstantin Dolgov, published in Telegram, Yevgeny Prigozhin said: “We approached Kyiv, then, as they say in Russian, ran into each other, and I left. Then we disbanded and retreated to Kherson, then to Izyum, Liman… And somehow nothing came of it.”

Girkin also previously stated that it is clear that the battle for the “post-Putin” era has already begun within the Russian elite.

“No matter how much I criticize Putin, he is currently the only legitimate figure in the Russian Federation,” Girkin said. If Putin is removed from power, “it would mean the collapse of Russia,” he warned.