Fact-Check | Wagner Forces Faced No Resistance on Their Advance to Moscow

The site "Polygraph", a fact-checking project of Voice of America, examined the claim made by Dmitry Medvedev, the former President and Prime Minister of Russia, who stated that "Russian officials convincingly demonstrated their power and stability during the Wagner group's rebellion." This research shows that contrary to Medvedev's claim, the Wagner group faced no resistance on their advance towards Moscow. On July 2, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, praised Russian officials and the people for resisting the Wagner mercenaries' rebellion and showing loyalty to Vladimir Putin. In an article published by the state-run newspaper "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", Medvedev claimed: "Russian officials convincingly demonstrated their power and stability, and the people of this country showed their readiness to support the Supreme Commander Vladimir Putin to defend the homeland." However, Polygraph's investigations reveal that Medvedev's claim is false. Russian border guards and local and regional officials showed no resistance against the forces of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of this group, even after Putin labeled the Wagner group's movement towards Moscow as treason and ordered its halt. The Wagner mercenaries quickly took control of Rostov-on-Don, the largest southern city in Russia, seized military facilities in the second city, and advanced 800 kilometers towards Moscow. Reports indicate that Putin and his Prime Minister left the capital during this crisis, and it is unclear where Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defense Minister, was at that time. Polygraph briefly reviewed the sequence of events at that time: On June 23 at 21:25 Moscow time, Prigozhin announced on Telegram that the "March for Justice" had begun. He stated that the goal was to force Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, to resign. Early on June 24, Wagner forces entered the Rostov region from the Luhansk region of Ukraine, part of which is occupied by Russia, and faced no resistance from the Russian border guards, who are part of the Federal Security Service. Around the same time, twelve planes carrying special forces flew from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don. Law enforcement in the city was ordered to place the military district headquarters under special protection. Simultaneously, the state news agency TASS reported that the Kremlin was treating the Wagner march as a rebellion and would take measures to stop it. At 3:43 AM and 5:13 AM Moscow time, Prigozhin claimed that Wagner forces shot down two Russian military helicopters that intended to attack them. At 5:23 AM, local news sources in Rostov-on-Don reported that the city administration and the headquarters of the regional security agency were "surrounded by unidentified individuals in military uniforms." At 7:30 AM, Wagner mercenaries entered the Southern Military District headquarters and began negotiations with the Deputy Defense Minister of Russia. According to reports, at that time, all military facilities in Rostov-on-Don were under Wagner's control. At 9:56 AM, the Telegram channel of Wagner supporters published photos of unarmed individuals in military uniforms at a border crossing in an area in Luhansk, Ukraine, occupied by Russia, and the Voronezh region of Russia, describing: "180 Russian soldiers and law enforcement officials agreed not to interfere with the actions of the Wagner group volunteers and laid down their weapons." Around 9:56 AM, Wagner forces moved from the Rostov and Voronezh regions towards Moscow. Tanks, armored vehicles, and civilian trucks were used to transport thousands of rebel mercenaries. Reports indicated that they were periodically attacked by Russian military helicopters, some of which were shot down by Wagner's air defense. By 9:57 AM, Wagner forces occupied military facilities in Voronezh, a city with over a million inhabitants. Wagner forces moved towards the Lipetsk region, where officials deliberately dug holes in their path with excavators and also blocked roads with trucks and buses to prevent their advance towards the Russian capital. At 10:06 AM, the Kremlin released a message from Putin in which he labeled Prigozhin's "rebellion" as treason. At 14:16, reports indicated that Putin's plane had taken off from Moscow towards one of the presidential residences. Planes carrying his deputy and Arkady Rotenberg, a billionaire close to Putin, also departed from Moscow. At 20:25, when Wagner forces reached 200 kilometers from Moscow, Prigozhin unexpectedly announced that he had agreed to halt the "March for Justice." According to Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, the Wagner group decided to refrain from entering Moscow after Putin guaranteed the safety of all its members. This is a translation of part of the research conducted on the "Polygraph" site, a fact-checking project of Voice of America.