{"id":269397,"date":"2023-05-31T07:30:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T07:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=269397"},"modified":"2023-06-01T05:42:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T05:42:28","slug":"wagner-boss-blasts-russias-elite-following-moscow-drone-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=269397","title":{"rendered":"Wagner boss blasts Russia\u2019s elite following Moscow drone attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Al Jazeera \u2013 May 31, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The head of Russia\u2019s Wagner mercenary<\/a> force has again criticised the Russian military and political elite following the drone attack on Moscow that injured two people, damaged property and left some furious the Kremlin had not better protected the capital city.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Yevgeny Prigozhin. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

In an expletive-drenched statement posted on Telegram by his press service on Tuesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin<\/a> \u2013 whose mercenary fighters have played a key role in the war in Ukraine \u2013 blamed the drone attack on out-of-touch officials living in Moscow\u2019s affluent suburb of Rublyovka<\/p>\n

\u201cYou, the Defence Ministry, have done nothing to launch an offensive,\u201d Prigozhin said in the statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow dare you allow the drones to reach Moscow?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what do ordinary people do when drones with explosives crash into their windows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing his ire on powerful residents of the upmarket Rublyovka area in Moscow\u2019s western suburbs, Prigozhin spoke of the \u201cscum\u201d and \u201cswine\u201d who sat quietly while Moscow was attacked.<\/p>\n

In a post on Telegram after the attack on Tuesday, Alexander Khinshtein, a prominent member of Russia\u2019s parliament from the ruling United Russia bloc, said three of the eight drones had been downed over three Rublyovka villages, one of which is located just 10 minutes drive from Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s residence at Novo-Ogaryovo.<\/p>\n

Rublyovka, a patchwork of elite gated communities in the forests west of Moscow, which once boasted some of the world\u2019s highest real-estate prices, is home to much of Russia\u2019s political, business and cultural elite. Former President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin have been reported to own homes in Rublyovka, alongside many of Russia\u2019s richest business figures.<\/p>\n

Wagner boss Prigozhin, known for his blunt and often foul language, has repeatedly cast Rublyovka\u2019s residents as an out-of-touch elite insufficiently committed to the war in Ukraine and has blamed the top brass for Russian failures on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

Russian military blogger Igor Girkin \u2013 whom a Dutch court found guilty of the murder of 298 people who were killed when flight MH17 was shot down over Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine in 2014 \u2013 also criticised Rublyovka residents on Tuesday who, he said, had \u201cnever thought about the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also chided Putin for continuing to state the war in Ukraine was a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d, despite drone attacks on the Russian capital, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Following the drone attacks, Ramzan Kadyrov,<\/a> the strongman leader of the Russian province of Chechnya, urged the Kremlin to declare martial law nationwide and use all its resources in Ukraine \u201cto sweep away that terrorist gang\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ISW, a Washington, DC-based think tank, said that Kadyrov also warned European countries over supplying Ukraine with weapons, stating that \u201cif they continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, they will not have the weapons needed to defend themselves when Russia \u2018knocks on their doors’\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some Kremlin watchers noted that Putin\u2019s calm reaction to the drone attack contrasted starkly with angry statements from Russian hawks and appears to reflect his belief that the Russian public will not be unsettled by the attack.<\/p>\n

Putin said it was clear that Moscow\u2019s air defences need to be improved against what he described as Ukrainian \u201cterrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Legitimate defence<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Russia\u2019s envoy to the United States said on Wednesday that Washington was encouraging Kyiv to carry out such attacks by not speaking out against the drone raid on Moscow.<\/p>\n

The White House said it did not support attacks inside of Russia and that it was still gathering information on the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are these attempts to hide behind the phrase that they are \u2018gathering information\u2019?\u201d Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said in remarks published on the Telegram messaging channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an encouragement for Ukrainian terrorists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Though not commenting specifically on the Moscow drone attacks, the United Kingdom\u2019s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday that Ukraine had the right to attack targets on Russian territory for the purpose of self-defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine does have the legitimate right to defend itself,\u201d Cleverly said during a press conference with his Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna in Estonia\u2019s capital Tallinn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has the legitimate right to do so within its own borders, of course, but it does also have the right to project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia\u2019s ability to project force into Ukraine itself,\u201d he said. \u201cSo legitimate military targets beyond its own border are part of Ukraine\u2019s self-defence. And we should recognise that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian forces shelled a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week on Wednesday, damaging buildings and setting vehicles on fire, the governor of the region said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

At least one person was injured during the artillery strike on Shebekino, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian drone also sparked a fire at the Afipsky oil refinery in southern Russia on Wednesday, the governor of Russia\u2019s Krasnodar region said.<\/p>\n

The fire was soon extinguished and there were no casualties, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on the Telegram messaging app. The Afipsky refinery is not far from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, near another refinery that has been attacked several times this month.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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