Necva Tastan
24 June 2023•Update: 25 June 2023
ISTANBUL
The former Russian president said on Saturday that it is highly likely for "foreign specialists" to participate in the current armed rebellion in the country, while the Kremlin remains committed to preventing criminals from acquiring nuclear weapons, irrespective of their intentions.
"The development of events shows that the actions of those who organized the military rebellion fully fit into the scheme of a staged coup d'état," Dimitri Medvedev told reporters.
Medvedev added that the armed rebellion launched by the paramilitary Wagner group is a "well-calculated" operation aimed at seizing power in Russia.
"We will not allow events to go according to the script, so that the bandits get nuclear weapons, no matter how much the crazy criminals would like," Medvedev said.
Medvedev also stressed that speculations about Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin's past grievances, failure to fulfill defense obligations, "rear attacks," and corruption of officials are "unfounded nonsense."
Tensions between the Kremlin and Wagner heightened when Prigozhin accused Russian forces of attacking his fighters, and later Wagner forces crossed into Russia from Ukraine and entered the city of Rostov-on-Don.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied Prigozhin's claims late Friday.
Prigozhin has, in recent months, repeatedly accused the Russian Defense Ministry and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu of not supplying sufficient arms to the paramilitary group which has been fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.
