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Wagner's Heresy, 2023

On 23 June 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said that soldiers of the Russian Ministry of Defense were attacking his soldiers. Prigozhin promised to take revenge on the Ministry of Defense. Prigozhin said the "evil" military leaders must be stopped and said he would "march for justice".

Prigozhin also said that Russia's reasons for invading Ukraine were lies and that Ukraine and NATO were not planning an attack on the Donbas and Crimea in 2022. He said Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Minister of Defence, was making Russia lose in the war. He also said the military attacked the Wagner Group. The Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against him after these statements. Prigozhin took his 25,000 soldiers out of Ukraine and into Rostov-on-Don in Rostov Oblast, Russia. He said, "If anyone gets in our way, we will destroy everything!" Putin responded to PMC Wagner's attack by saying its actions were "treason" and a "stab in the back".