Russia Could Nuke Own Border Region, Wagner PMC Chief Warns

Wagner PMC Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin speculated that Russian leadership could launch a "tactical nuclear strike" on a town in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, and where Russian forces are currently locked in battle with pro-Ukraine Russian insurgents.

The rift between the Wagner mercenaries and the Russian Defense Ministry has widened in recent weeks, with Prigozhin claiming this week to have "captured" a lieutenant colonel of the Russian Army, who allegedly gave the command to mine Wagner's retreat routes in Bakhmut.

"I am afraid that they might harbor some foul thoughts about dropping a little nuke on their own territory. Could it be the reason why we are ceding territory in Belgorod region—because we are too scared to hit their [territory], but not our own," Prigozhin said in a video interview with the Donbass Today Telegram channel.

"Lobbing [the bomb] at foreign [territory] is scary, but we can hit our own, to show how sick and psychotic we are. The Ukrainian forces might be occupying some small [Russian] village, and that's where [Russia] will aim the tactical nuclear strike," the Putin ally said.

"That is if it is still functional—judging by how they are maintaining other [weapons]," he added.

During the interview Prigozhin, who previously attacked Russian authorities for failing to provide sufficient ammunition, also went on to issue an apparent ultimatum to the Defense Ministry, hinting that he could turn his troops towards Moscow if supplies didn't arrive.

"We give the ministry two weeks to liberate our territories [in the Belgorod region]. But if they fail or we aren't confident [in their efforts] I will demand that we are allowed to go there because otherwise, they'll keep lying to the Russian people," he said.

"If that does not happen, and if the situation continues to worsen, then we will go to Belgorod. And it's not far from Belgorod Oblast to Rublyovka (an elite suburb of Moscow), to the Frunzenskaya embankment (the location of Russian Defense Ministry headquarters), what if we go there to demand more ammunition?"

Prigozhin's war-of-words with the Russian top brass reached new heights this week when the Wagner Group announced it had captured a Russian military lieutenant colonel who, it claimed, ordered an attack on his forces while "drunk."

In the video released by Prigozhin's press service, the man introduces himself as Lieutenant Colonel Roman Venevitin, commander of the 72nd motorized rifle brigade.

He said that, along with between 10 to 12 of his subordinates, he disarmed a group of Wagner Group fighters and "opened fire on a Wagner PMC vehicle [while] intoxicated from alcohol," adding that he did this because of "bad blood."

Last week, Prigozhin withdrew his paramilitary outfit from the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which Russia captured after months of heavy fighting and significant losses. He repeatedly accused the Russian Defense Ministry of intentionally depriving his fighters of ammunition.

On Monday, the "Freedom of Russia Legion" published a video address to Prigozhin, offering to exchange the Russian soldiers they had captured in Belgorod for the colonel held by Wagner.

Prigozhin declined the offer, stating that the colonel was not a "prisoner of war, but was detained and handed to Russian authorities," adding that Wagner "doesn't exchange Russians for Russians."

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry via email for comment.