The Russian-founded messaging platform Telegram, which has become the primary vehicle for circulating narratives favorable to the Kremlin during Russias war in Ukraine, reached an unprecedented level of influence on June 23, and Prigozhin used it to significant effect to vent his anger on the Russian defense establishment and launched a mutiny of military mercenaries. For months, Prigozhin waged a rhetorical war against his rivals in the Kremlin, especially Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov. The Wagner founder blamed them for incompetence during the war in Ukraine, including months of public debate over supplying his forces with adequate ammunition during the siege of Bakhmut.

Prigozhins personal war against the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) reached new heights in a series of Telegram posts that began on Friday, June 23, and continued on Saturday. At 10:50 a.m. Moscow time, he posted a thirty-minute video on his Telegram channel “Prigozhin press service,” in which he denounced the Ministry of Defense, accusing its leadership of deceiving Putin and the Russian public in early 2022 into believing that Ukrainian aggression was inevitable and that Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine.

Sitting in a chair before a Wagner Group flag pinned to an otherwise empty wall, Prigozhin continued to present his arguments against the MoD and the entire war effort. "At this moment, [the MoD] is trying to deceive society and the president and tell the story that there was insane aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they wanted to attack us together with the entire NATO bloc," Prigozhin said, effectively undermining the Kremlin. "So, on February 24, the so-called special operation was launched for completely different reasons." He described Russias invasion of Ukraine as a "monstrous show of shame" and an "incompetently planned operation" carried out by a "bunch of critters" and "mentally sick scum" who "dont have the ****" to fight aggressively with the determination needed to win the war, including their reluctance to use tactical nuclear weapons. "Grandfathers are quite weak." They cant get out of their comfort zone," he added.

"A handful of idiots, for some reason, decided that they are so cunning that no one will understand what they are doing with their military exercises, and no one will stop them when they go to Kyiv," Prigozhin said. He blamed Shoigu for killing thousands of non-disabled Russian soldiers. He directed his anger at Russian oligarchs who made their fortunes on the war while trying to restore former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to power. "Our holy war against those who wrong the Russian people has turned into racketeering, theft," he said.

Prigozhin later added that he would follow up the video with a second "interview," but that would turn out to be a gross understatement, as the original video was only the first of more than a dozen messages he posted and sent through his Telegram channel over the next thirty-six hours.

Later in the day, at 17:10 Moscow time, Prigozhin stepped up his criticism of the Ministry of Defense with an audio recording on Telegram, in which he accused them of committing "genocide" against Russians. Calling Shoigu and Gerasimov directly, Prigozhin said, “They should be held responsible for the genocide of the Russian people, the murder of tens of thousands of Russian citizens, and the transfer of Russian territories to the enemy."

^{Foto: Twitter}

As furious audio recordings of Prigozhin emerged into the evening, multiple pro-Wagner Telegram channels circulated a video around 9:00 PM Moscow time, purportedly documenting the aftermath of a Russian airstrike on the Wagner camp. The video shows scenes of a wooded area lined with stone paths exposed to a moderate amount of debris and several fires burning in trenches; the corpse is briefly seen at the end of the clip. It is unclear where or when the video was taken, and it recalled similar questionable, context-deprived footage that circulated before the February 2022 invasion accusing Ukraine of involvement in sabotage and other aggression against Russia.

Within ten minutes, Prigozhin released another angry statement, accusing the MoD of attacking his forces in the camp. "Today, seeing that we are not broken, they decided to launch rocket attacks on our rear camps," he exclaimed. "A huge number of fighters, our comrades-in-arms, died. We will decide how we will respond to this crime. The ball is in our court."

About fifteen minutes later, Prigozhin effectively declared war on the MoD in another Telegram audio clip. "The Council of Commanders of the Wagner Group has made a decision," he announced. "The evil carried by the country’s military leadership must be stopped." They ignore the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word "justice," and we are returning it. Those who destroyed our boys today, as well as tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers, will be punished. He later described his force as "25,000 soldiers", adding: "We will get to the bottom of lawlessness in this country."

As Prigozhin continued to post additional threats and taunts on Telegram, the Ministry of Defense described the alleged recordings circulating on pro-Wagner channels as fake. At the same time, Russias National Counter-Terrorism Committee announced that the Federal Security Service, or FSB, would launch criminal investigation proceedings against Prigogine "in accordance with the fact of calling for an armed rebellion.”

Prigozhin continued to send messages on and off throughout Saturday as his forces advanced north toward Moscow. He then posted a second message just before 8:30 p.m. local time, saying he would return Wagners troops to their camps.

Judging by everything, Prigozhin found a very effective way to communicate with the world via Telegram without his plans while creating what the world called the greatest threat to Vladimir Putins regime since its establishment. This was especially important when, during the entire crisis, the Kremlin tried in every way to limit information about Prigozhin, his goals, and his movements. The Kremlin has been doing this by jamming channels on Telegram, and various Russian cities are reporting severe disruptions to their use, as reported by the TASS agency.

In addition, Russias Internet regulator Roskomnadzor has warned that the government may impose restrictions on the Internet in locations where counterterrorism operations could occur, such as Moscow, Voronezh, or Rostov. Roskomnadzor then also added that the use of Telegram was not restricted.

^{Foto: Twitter}

Meanwhile, the Telegram channel Faridaili reported that residents of Moscow and the surrounding region receive calls from unknown mobile numbers with messages from Wagner. According to a Telegram post, one person received a call on their Viber messenger with a recording of Prigozhins call about "restoring justice." Another person received an automated voice call on Wagners behalf, encouraging them to join Wagner as their units moved toward Moscow.

The author is data protection manager

^{North Macedonian Media Partner Link: https://www.slobodenpecat.mk/kako-prigozhin-go-iskoristi-telegram-za-da-mu-objavi-vojna-na-ruskoto-ministerstvo-za-odbrana-a-potoa-da-se-povleche/}