Yevgeny Prigozhin, the curator of the Wagner private military company, addressed the Russian Ministry of Defense, saying that its units are ready to come to the defense of the population of the Belgorod region if the military department does not stop, in his words, the "lawlessness" associated with an attempt to seize the territories of the Russian Federation.

"If the Ministry of Defense does not soon stop the lawlessness that is going on to seize the territories of the Russian Federation, we will come to the Belgorod region and protect our Russian people", Prigozhin said in a statement.

In his address, he emphasized that his forces are ready to ensure the protection of all nationalities living in the Belgorod region, including Russians, Dagestanis, Chechens and even ethnic Ukrainians.

Prigozhin underlined the decisiveness of his intention, saying that the Wagner PMC fighters would not wait for an invitation or permission to intervene from the Russian authorities.

“We will not wait for an invitation and ask “Can we or not?” The only thing is that we will require ammunition.”, - he said.

Such rhetoric clearly underlines the tense relationship between the private military company Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defense.