Vladimir Putin orders military to crush ‘mutiny’ after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says his troops are ‘ready to die’
Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish a ‘mutiny’ by Wagner mercenaries, who were nearing Moscow early today as Russian forces awaited them. The Kremlin denied Putin had left the capital.
A mercenary rebel army was nearing Moscow after claiming quick gains in southern Russia. President Vladimir Putin said earlier in a televised statement on Saturday that all “necessary orders have been given” to deal with the “mutiny’’ by Ukraine war ally the Wagner Group.
A Kremlin spokesman has denied Putin has left Moscow.
Amid early fighting, Russian army helicopters opened fire on a Wagner mercenary military convoy on the M4 highway outside the city of Voronezh on Saturday, a Reuters witness said.
The rebels, after seizing the military headquarters for Russia’s southern district, in the regional centre of Rostov-on-Don, which is near the Ukraine border, were heading for Moscow, about 1000km to the north.
BBC Russian sources said Wagner forces had seized military facilities in Voronezh, another regional capital which is halfway between Rostov and Moscow.
Governor Igor Artamov of the Lipetsk region, only 400km south of Moscow, had confirmed Wagner forces were moving through the area.
Wagner fighters broke through truck barriers on the highway and were about two hours from Moscow. In the capital area, Russian forces, either police or soldiers, were seen positioned on a grassy roadside verge at a busy roundabout in readiness for the Wagner convoy.
Putin warned on Saturday of “inevitable punishment” for those dividing the Russian society, and said a counter-terrorism regime is now in place in the capital Moscow and several other regions.
Without blaming by name Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group, which has fought for Russia in Ukraine, as responsible, Putin said the mutiny that arose late on Friday was a “mortal blow” to the Russian people and “decisive action” would be taken to stabilise the situation in Rostov.
Read on through this report for the following topics:
- Possible Moscow battle ahead
- Russian military tries to slow Wagner advance
- Vladimir Putin calls rebellion ‘treason’ in TV address
- Ukraine’s allies warned against exploiting rebellion
- EU, US monitoring crisis
- Ukraine and Europe wait for rebellion outcome
- Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin aims at military elite
- Prigozhin seen with two Russian military leaders
- Wagner chief claims control of southern military centre
- Russian missile strikes against Wagner forces claimed
Possible Moscow battle ahead
There have been unconfirmed reports that both Putin and one of his strongest supporters, the former president Dmitri Medvedev, have left the Russian capital in helicopters. This was denied by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said “President Putin is working in the Kremlin”.
A specially equipped presidential plane, from which Putin can control military operations, took off from Moscow at 2.16pm Moscow time heading towards St Petersburg. However the plane turned off its tracking when it was near Tver, the location of one of Putin’s houses. It was not known who was aboard the plane.
Unverified social media posts show the Russian military building new defences, such as a machine-gun nest, on the ring road surrounding Moscow. It appears the Russian response, apart from bombing the highway to buy some time, is to bunker down for what could be a bloody battle just outside the capital.
The mayor of Moscow said Monday would be a “non-working day” and asked people to restrict their movement around the city. Russian authorities announced a “counter-terrorist operation” in the city of Moscow, the Moscow region, and the Voronezh region to south.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement: “The situation is difficult. I ask you to refrain from travelling around the city as much as possible.”
Ukraine’s allies warned against exploiting rebellion
The Russian foreign ministry has warned Western countries “against any hint of possible use of the internal Russian situation to achieve their Russophobic goals’’.
The ministry said it was “convinced that in the near future the situation will find a solution worthy of the age-old wisdom of the Russian people and the State of Russia’’.
Statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the fact of current events
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 24, 2023
The attempted armed insurgency in our country is strongly resented in Russian society, which strongly supports Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
The plotters' adventurist aspirations are, in fact, aimed… pic.twitter.com/e7dgAen40W
EU, US monitoring crisis
The rapidly escalating events mark the most serious challenge yet to the Kremlin chief’s long rule, and Russia’s most serious security crisis since the strongman came to power in late 1999.
The UK Government would hold an emergency “Cobra’’ committee meeting to discuss the ongoing situation in Russia, the BBC reported. Latvia has closed its border to Russians while the EU has activated a crisis response centre to monitor the ongoing situation in Russia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had been in contact with Group of Sven and EU officials.
Spoke today with G7 Foreign Ministers and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to discuss the ongoing situation in Russia. The United States will stay in close coordination with Allies and partners as the situation continues to develop.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 24, 2023
European Commission vice-president Josep Burrell said he had spoken to Group of Seven foreign ministers to exchange views on the situation in Russia. “Ahead of Monday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council, I am coordinating inside the European Union and have activated the crisis response centre,” he said.
Wagner aims at military chiefs
Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenaries, said on Saturday that he had crossed into Russia with his forces to topple Moscow’s military leadership and said the group had taken control of military buildings and the airport in Rostov.
“We are inside the (army) headquarters, it is 7:30am (0430 GMT),” Prigozhin said in a video on Telegram. “Military sites in Rostov, including an aerodrome, are under control,” he added, saying he and his 25,000 mobilised fighters were “ready to die”.
Social media networks have been shut down in southern Russian areas as Putin’s government tries to crush the rebels.
A loud explosion was heard near the rebel headquarters. The sound of ambulance and police sirens filled the air in Rostov. At a major intersection in the city centre, an armoured car with a machine gun and around a dozen men in military fatigues with silver armbands could be seen.
Prigozhin is reported to have been accumulating surface to air missiles in the past two months to prepare for a coup. His men were heading to Moscow for a confrontation with Putin.
Russian military tries to slow Wagner advance
Within hours of the mutiny, significant military forces in Voronezh, Krasnodar and Volgograd appear to have swung their support behind the Wagner group. This has led to immediate skirmishes in Voronezh between Wagner and Russian forces.
The action seemed a forerunner of a military strike by the Russians on the rebels and marks the first shots fired in the apparent coup attempt.
One Russian military helicopter, believed to be an Mi-35M, was shot down by Wagner forces in Voronezh.
The moment the Russian plane was shot down by Wagner.#Moscow #Kremlin #Putin #Prigozhin #Wagner pic.twitter.com/j1o0nMGMNy
— NATO🇺🇸 VS KREMLIN🇷🇺 (@eduinfotech101) June 24, 2023
On Saturday night Australian time, a Russian AN-24 plane was shot down over Voronezh, videoed ablaze as it fell from the sky by astonished Russian locals, and a Voronezh oil depot was attacked by a helicopter.
The regional governor said emergency services were working to put out a fuel tank fire at the oil depot in Voronezh. Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram: “More than 100 firefighters and 30 pieces of equipment are working at the site.” He added that there were no currently no reported casualties.’’
Prigozhin described his forces as “true patriots”, in the first statement made since the Russian President gave his televised address on Saturday morning Moscow time.
He said: “And no one is going to surrender to the demands of the President, FSB [security service], or anyone else.”
Prigozhin has confirmed that his forces had shot down the Russian helicopter after it had been attacking a Wagner unit on the highway from Voronezh to Moscow.
He said: “On the Moscow highway, one of the assault units got under fire of helicopters. In the units of PMC Wagner, everybody is intact. The helicopter was destroyed, it’s burning in a tree line.
“I am once again warning everyone: we will consider a threat and destroy everything around. They will not be able to destroy us. We have goals, we are all ready to die. All 25,000 [of our fighters directed to march on Moscow]. And then another 25,000.
“Because we are dying for the Motherland, we’re dying for the Russian people who must be liberated from those people who are striking the civilian population, who were just attacked with a helicopter in Rostov.’’
Prigozhin seen with two Russian military leaders
On Saturday an unverified video on Telegram emerged appearing to show Prigozhin talking with Russia’s deputy defence minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, and deputy chief of staff Vladimir Alexeyev.
Prigozhin reportedly explains on the video he had arrived with tanks to the Southern Military District’s headquarters in Rostov-on-Don because Russian forces had been firing missiles on the Wagner positions in Ukraine, as well as on civilians, including a bus.
Prigozhin says: “People are dying because you’re throwing them into the meat grinder. Without ammunition, without any thoughts, without any plans.” He tells them he is here “to save Russia”.
Vladimir Putin calls rebellion ‘treason’ in TV address
Putin on Saturday in his address to the nation said that the armed mutiny was a “stab in a back to our country, to our nation.
“What we have been faced with is exactly betrayal. Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason,” Putin said, apparently 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,” he said.
Putin described efforts by the Wagner military group to unseat the country’s top brass as a “deadly threat” to Russia and urged the country to unite.
“Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood and to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia and to our people,” Putin said, adding: “This battle, when the fate of our people is being decided, requires the unification of all forces and unity.”
Putin acknowledged a “difficult” situation was unfolding in the southern city were the Wagner Group has taken control of key military sites in an effort to oust Russian military’s top brass.
“There will be decisive measures taken on stabilising the situation in Rostov-on-Don,” Putin said “It remains difficult and the work of civil and military authorities in fact is being blocked.”
The speakers of both of Russia’s houses of parliament on Saturday said they backed Putin. The head of the upper house of parliament Valentina Matvienko said Putin had members’ “full support” while the speaker of the lower house Vyacheslav Volodin urged Russians to “support” the long-time leader.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 24 June 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 24, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/K6An5jd2B8
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/M3E5L0EHLB
Ukraine and Europe wait for rebellion outcome
The UK Ministry of Defence, in its latest intelligence update today, said: “Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia’s security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how the crisis plays out. This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times.’’
Immediately after the coup attempt Russian banks raised foreign currency exchange rates and the government cancelled its annual Gorky Park party for school graduates.
In Moscow workers were seen taking down billboard posters which had been promoting recruitment to the Wagner group.
In what appears to be a coordinated response, NATO, the European Council as well as the governments of the UK, Germany, France, Italy have issued statements saying they “are monitoring developments closely”.
A White House National Security Council spokesman said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.” A US official told CNN this crisis was “real” but the Pentagon and White House were waiting to see how it developed.
NATO was “monitoring the situation” in Russia, a spokeswoman for the transatlantic military alliance said via email on Saturday.
Emmanuel Macron was closely monitoring the situation in Russia after the Wagner mercenary group launched an armed mutiny against the Kremlin’s forces, the French President’s office said Saturday. “The president is following the situation very closely. We remain focused on supporting Ukraine,” the Elysee said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was closely monitoring events in Russia, her office said Saturday, while her foreign minister urged Italians living there to exercise caution.
Ms Meloni’s office said that she “is following closely the events unfolding in Russia, which show how its aggression against Ukraine is causing instability within the Russian Federation’’.
On Twitter, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that for the moment there was no concern for Italians living in Russia, but said they were “advised to be cautious”.
Despite Italy’s historically warm ties with Moscow, Ms Meloni’s coalition government has sent weapons and aid to help Ukraine while also strongly backing Western sanctions on Russia for its invasion last year.
The UK foreign ministry said: “There are reports of military tensions in the Rostov region and a risk of further unrest across the country. Additionally, there is a lack of available flight options to return to the UK.’’
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, tweeted:” The Ukrainian formula for sustainable peace provides for returning to the 1991 borders and starting the process of Russia’s self-destruction. As the war began, so it will end – inside Russia. The process has begun …”
Ukrainian government adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the coming 48 hours would determine whether Russia is engulfed in a “full-fledged civil war or a negotiated transit of power”.
The next 48 hours will define the new status of #Russia. Either a full-fledged Civil War, or a negotiated Transit of Power, or a temporary respite before the next phase of the downfall of the #Putin regime. All potential players are now choosing which side they are on. A…
— Михайло ПодолÑк (@Podolyak_M) June 24, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the armed insurrection was evidence of Russia’s inherent political instability.
“Russia’s weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain, and problems it will have for itself later,” he said in statement on social media.
“Ukraine is able to protect Europe from the spread of Russian evil and chaos,” Zelensky added.
Zelensky accused Putin of throwing “hundreds of thousands into the war, in order to eventually barricade himself in the Moscow region from those whom he himself armed”.
A top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “everything is just beginning in Russia’’. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of President of Ukraine, wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: “The split between the elites is too obvious. Agreeing and pretending that everything is settled won’t work. Someone must definitely lose: either Prigozhin (with a fatal ending), or the collective ‘anti-Prygozhin’ (Putin’s group and the ‘Ozero’ cooperative). Everything is just beginning in Russia.”
The Ukraine invasion continued, meanwhile. Ukraine’s authorities said on Saturday that three people were killed and nearly a dozen injured in Kyiv in Russian air attacks across the country overnight.
Kyiv’s military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny talked with the US chairman of the joint chiefs General Mark Milley on Saturday and told him Ukraine’s counteroffensive against “was going according to plan”.
“We discussed in detail the situation along the entire frontline,” Zaluzhny posted on official social media.” I told him about the offensive and offensive actions of our units. I informed him that the operation is going in accordance with the plan. I also told him about the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in certain types of weapons and demining assets.”
Igor Girkin, the prominent Russian military leader and sometime Putin critic, and one of three men found responsible for the MH17 disaster in 2014, has sided with Putin.
Girkin has been providing updates of the Wagner Group movements. ”The rebels successfully bypassed Voronezh and are moving through the territory of the Lipetsk region. They boast that they shot down the forward outposts of the ‘Rosgvardia’ and took trophies,’’ he said.
Wagner chief claims control of southern military centre
Prigozhin said earlier on Saturday that he was inside the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, and that his fighters controlled the city’s military sites.
Prigozhin earlier said his forces had crossed into Russia from the Ukrainian front, vowing to topple Russia’s military leadership, saying he and thousands of his fighters were “ready to die.” Russia’s military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don are a key logistical base for its offensive in Ukraine.
“We are inside the (army) headquarters, it is 7.30am (2.30pm AEST),” Prigozhin said in a video on Telegram. “Military sites in Rostov, including an aerodrome, are under control,” he added.
He said that planes taking part in the Ukraine offensive “are leaving as normal” from the airfield.
“We took (the aerodrome) under control so that the attack aviation did not strike us, but strike Ukrainians,” Prigozhin said.
He called on Russians not to believe what they are being told on state television.
“When they tell you that PMC Wagner interfered with work and that’s why something on the front collapsed. Things on the front collapsed not for this reason,” he said, addressing Russians.
“A huge amount of territory is lost. Soldiers have been killed, three, four times more than what it says in documents shown to the top (leadership).” Prigozhin claimed Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov “ran away from here when he found out that we are approaching the building.” Authorities in Rostov have urged residents to stay at home.
Russia opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, accusing him of trying to start an “armed rebellion.”
Earlier, in response to the Wagner group’s moves Russian authorities said security had been tightened in several regions and the mayor of Moscow announced that “anti-terrorist” measures were being taken in the capital.
The FSB security service accused Prigozhin of attempting to launch a “civil conflict” and urged Wagner fighters to detain him.
“We will destroy everything that stands in our way,” Prigozhin said earlier, in the most audacious challenge to President Vladimir Putin since the start of the offensive in Ukraine last year.
Prigozhin said his forces, who have spearheaded much of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, had entered the southern Russian region of Rostov, and had also shot down a Russian military helicopter.
He did not, however, provide proof, and AFP could not independently verify the claims.
Authorities in Rostov urged residents to stay home.
“Law enforcement agencies are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of residents,” Rostov governor Vasily Golubev said.
Videos and pictures posted online, including by TASS, showed armed men surrounding administrative buildings in Rostov and tanks deployed in the city centre. It was not clear who the armed men were.
In Moscow, critical facilities were “under reinforced protection”, the TASS state-run news agency 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 Dmitry Peskov said, adding the president was getting regular updates on the situation.
Russian missile strikes against Wagner forces claimed
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 spearheaded 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 east Ukraine 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.
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.
Kyiv’s defence ministry said it was monitoring the situation. Ukraine was also on high alert after a fresh barrage of Russian missiles Saturday, with casualties and damage reported in Kyiv and the central city of Dnipro.
US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation in Russia and Washington “will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments”, National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said.
On Friday, Prigozhin said Moscow’s forces were retreating in Ukraine’s east and south following the start of Kyiv’s counteroffensive early this month. That directly contradicted Putin’s account that Ukraine was suffering “catastrophic” losses and that there was a lull in fighting.
“We are washing ourselves in blood,” Prigozhin said.
“No one is bringing reserves. What they tell us is the deepest deception,” he added, referring to the Russian military and political leadership.
Questioning military operation
After years of operating in the shadows, Prigozhin has now 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 the town of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk, the longest and bloodiest battle of the conflict.
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.” Prigozhin rose from a modest background to become part of the inner circle around Putin.
He spent nine years in prison in the final period of the USSR after being convicted of fraud and theft. In the chaos of the 1990s, he began a moderately successful business selling hot dogs.
From there he fell into the restaurant business and opened a luxury location in Saint Petersburg whose customers included Putin, then making the transition from working in the KGB to local politics.
In recent months, Prigozhin has become embroiled in a bitter power struggle with the defence ministry, accusing the military of attempting to “steal” his victories in Ukraine.
AFP
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