MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that an “armed mutiny” by the Wagner Group mercenary force was treason, and that anyone who had taken up arms against the Russian military would be punished.
Not long after he spoke in a rare emergency televised address, Russian military helicopters opened fire on a convoy of rebel mercenaries already more than halfway towards Moscow in a lightning advance after seizing a southern city overnight.
In Moscow, there was an increased security presence on the streets. Red Square was blocked off by metal barriers. Internet restrictions had been imposed and more security measures were being considered.
Putin said he would do everything to protect Russia, and that “decisive action” would be taken to stabilise the situation in Rostov-on-Don, the city about 1,100km south of Moscow where Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces had taken control of all military installations.
“This is a stab in a back to our country, to our nation,” Putin said in an address to the nation. “What we have been faced with is exactly betrayal. Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason,” Putin said, referring to Prigozhin.
“All those who consciously stood on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed rebellion, stood on the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, before the law and before our people.”
Putin spoke after Prigozhin said he had crossed into Russia and seized control of a key military headquarters, vowing to topple Moscow’s military leadership and saying he and his 25,000 fighters were “ready to die”.
Prigozhin, 62, said his forces, who have spearheaded much of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, had entered Rostov-on-Don and controlled its military sites.
“We are inside the (army) headquarters, it is 7:30am,” he said in a video posted on Telegram.
“Military sites in Rostov, including an aerodrome, are under control,” he added.
Russia’s military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don are a key logistical base for its offensive in Ukraine.
Prigozhin said planes taking part in the Ukraine offensive “are leaving as normal” from the airfield, and called on Russians not to believe what they were being told on state television.
“A huge amount of territory is lost. Soldiers have been killed three, four times more than it says in documents shown to the top (leadership).”
Videos and pictures posted online, including by the TASS state-run news agency, showed armed men surrounding administrative buildings in Rostov and tanks deployed in the city centre. It was not clear who the armed men were. (Story continues below)
'Anti-terrorist measures'
Russian authorities earlier said security had been tightened in several regions, and the mayor of Moscow announced that “anti-terrorist” measures were being taken in the capital and its environs.
The FSB security service accused Prigozhin of attempting to launch a “civil conflict” and urged Wagner fighters to detain him.
The defence ministry appealed to Wagner fighters to “show reason” and abandon Prigozhin, saying it would “guarantee the safety” of those who did so.
Prigozhin launched the most audacious challenge to Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year after accusing the Russian top brass of launching strikes against his men.
“We are dying for the Russian people,” he said. “All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000,” he said in the earlier audio message.
“We will destroy everything that stands in our way,” Prigozhin said, claiming that his forces had shot down a Russian military helicopter.
In Moscow, critical facilities were “under reinforced protection”, TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source.
Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov had informed Putin of “the initiation of a criminal case in connection with an attempt to organise an armed rebellion”, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said. (Story continues below)
Missile strikes
The extraordinary developments came after Prigozhin accused Moscow of targeting his forces with missile strikes that he said killed “a huge number of our fighters”.
“The council of commanders of PMC Wagner has made a decision — the evil that the military leadership of the country brings must be stopped,” he said in a series of furious audio messages released by his spokespeople.
He warned Russians against resisting his forces and called on them to join him.
“We need to put an end to this mess,” he said, adding, “this is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”
In a statement, the FSB said: “Prigozhin’s statements and actions are in fact a call to start an armed civil conflict on the territory of the Russian Federation and a stab in the back to Russian servicemen fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces.”
While Prigozhin’s outfit has been at the forefront of much of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, he has in recent months engaged in a bitter feud with Moscow’s military leadership and has repeatedly blamed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, for his fighters’ deaths.
‘Urge you to stop’
The Russian defence ministry denied Prigozhin’s claims of an attack on his forces, saying the statements “do not correspond to reality”.
It later said Ukrainian troops were taking advantage of the infighting to ready an assault near the eastern hotspot of Bakhmut.
A prominent Russian general urged Prigozhin to call off efforts to remove the defence ministry leadership.
“I urge you to stop,” Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russia’s aerospace forces, said in a highly unusual video address.
“Before it is too late, it is necessary… to obey the will and order of the popularly elected president of the Russian Federation.”
Anti-Kremlin figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, however, urged Russians to support Prigozhin, saying it was acceptable to back “even the devil” in taking on the Kremlin.
The Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said the Wagner chief’s attempt to force a leadership change in the defence ministry “is unlikely to succeed” given that Surovikin had denounced his call for rebellion.
However, it said Wagner’s attempts to take control of Rostov-on-Don, a key logistical base, “would have significant impacts on Russia’s war effort in Ukraine”.
Questioning military operation
After years of operating in the shadows, Prigozhin last year admitted to running the elusive mercenary group Wagner and even interfering in US elections.
His forces, bolstered by tens of thousands of prison recruits, played a central role in Russia’s capture of Bakhmu
However, this week he accused Moscow’s top brass of deceiving Russians about the offensive in Ukraine.
“Why did the special military operation begin?” he said. “The war was needed for the self-promotion of a bunch of bastards.”
