Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that those on “path of treason” or armed rebellion will be “punished” after the head of the Wagner paramilitary group said his troops had taken control of military facilities in two Russian cities, plunging the country into crisis.
“Renegade actions against those fighting in the front is a stab in the back of our country,” Putin said in an address to the nation, pledging a harsh response and punishment to those who plan “an armed rebellion.”
Putin was speaking after militia chief and once close ally Yevgeny Prigozhin dramatically escalated his feud with Moscow’s security establishment over their handling of the war in Ukraine.
Prigozhin, who heads private military group Wagner, pledged to blockade the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and move on to Moscow if Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov did not meet with him in the city, where Russia’s Southern Military District is headquartered.
In his remarks Putin described events in Rostov as an insurrection.
“The situation in Rostov-on-Don remains difficult during the armed uprising. In Rostov, the work of civil and military administration is basically blocked,” Putin said.
Prigozhin’s actions come after he accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp and killing “a huge amount” of his fighters – a claim Russia’s Ministry of Defense has denied and called an “informational provocation.”
Prigozhin, whose forces have played a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warned of retribution in a series of Telegram messages Friday and Saturday, where he announced his forces were moving into the Rostov region neighboring Russian-occupied Ukraine, ready to “destroy everything” in their way.
“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country. There are 25,000 of us waiting as a tactical reserve and a strategic reserve. It’s the whole army and the whole country, everyone who wants to, join us. We must end this debacle,” he said, in a radical escalation of a longstanding feud with Russia’s military leaders.
Russia’s domestic intelligence service, Federal Security Service (FSB), responded on Friday, urging Wagner fighters to detain their leader and opening a criminal case against the militia boss accusing him of “calling for an armed rebellion.” Authorities in the capital Moscow, meanwhile, tightened its security measures.
Russian intelligence official, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseev, posted a video about Prigozhin’s actions that day, describing it as a coup attempt.
“Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority. This is a coup d’etat. There is no need to do this now, because there is no greater damage to the image of Russia and to its armed forces,” he added.
Prigozhin denied his acts were a coup, saying instead they were a “march of justice” that would “not interfere with the troops in any way.”
Russia on alert
Prigozhin has asserted that his forces would receive wide backing from Russian soldiers, claiming they were given a hero’s welcome when they entered the Rostov region and that by Saturday morning 60-70 had already joined up with his fighters.
“The border guards came out to meet and hugged our fighters,” he said.
Military activity became obvious in Rostov-on-don Saturday morning, when images began emerging on social media of military vehicles going through the streets of Rostov-on-don and helicopters ahead Saturday morning, though it was not clear whose control they were in.
Rostov region Governor Vasily Golubev earlier Saturday asked residents to stay calm and not leave their homes in a Telegram post. The Rostov region is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Moscow. Its capital Rostov-on-Don has a population of around 1 million.
In the first suggestion of open armed conflict between the two sides Saturday morning, Prigozhin on Saturday said his units were hit by a helicopter on a highway. It’s unclear exactly where the units were.
“The Wagner units are intact, the helicopter is destroyed and is burning in the forest,” Prigozhin said, adding “we will take it as a threat and destroy everything around us.”
Prigozhin also claimed a second helicopter was downed after it attacked civilians. CNN has been unable to verify any of Prigozhin’s claims.
Prigozhin also said the alleged Wagner take-over of military facilities in Rostov would not impede military operations, saying his men are not stopping the officers from carrying out their duties.
In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Saturday on Telegram that “anti-terrorist” measures to strengthen security were being carried out in the capital as a result of “incoming information.”
“Additional control on the roads has been introduced. Limitations on holding the public events are possible,” he added.
Social media posts showed military vehicles were seen driving around the main streets of the Russian capital in the early hours of Saturday.
Ukraine invaded under ‘false pretenses’
Wagner has played a prominent role in the Ukraine war, and Prigozhin, so far, has faced few consequences for his public feud with Russia’s military leadership – where he has accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and armed forces chief Valery Gerasimov of not giving his forces ammunition.
Prigozhin and Wagner have played an unusual and informal role in Putin’s Russia. He has known the president since the 1990s; both are from St. Petersburg. Prigozhin won valuable contracts as the Kremlin’s caterer and later set up the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, whose mission was to interfere in the US 2016 election.
Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin furthered his ongoing dispute with military leaders in a highly critical video interview where he said Moscow invaded Ukraine under false pretenses devised by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Russia is actually losing ground on the battlefield.
Prigozhin has previously defended the reasoning for the war but has been critical of how it has been handled by the Minister of Defense, Shoigu – with whom he is directly fighting with over military contracts.
Russia’s top commander in Ukraine, Sergey Surovikin, on Friday urged Wagner mercenary fighters to “stop” and to “obey the will” of Putin in a Telegram video. “You can’t play into the hands of the enemy in this difficult time for the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russians watching State news TV channel Russia 24 had their evening programming interrupted with a message from the Russian Ministry of Defense saying Prigozhin’s claims “do not correspond to reality and are intended to misinform.”
The fallout from his comments also inspired a wave of schadenfreude in Ukraine. “Classical Russian poetry… Tumultuous times are coming,” wrote Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote on Twitter.
CNN’s Anna Chernova and Lindsay Isaac contributed to this report.
