Vladimir Putin spoke out on Saturday against the “deadly threat” and the risk of “civil war” posed by the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has openly rebelled against the Russian command.
Wearing a black suit, with a serious look and a martial tone, the head of the Kremlin addressed Prigozhin at 07:00 GMT, careful not to use his name but branding the rebel group as “traitors” to the Russian nation, and promising to “punish” them.
“This is a stab in the back to our country and our people,” Mr Putin said in an address to the nation. “What we are facing is nothing less than a betrayal. A betrayal caused by the inordinate ambitions and personal interests” of Mr Prigozhin.
What's happening?
Early on Saturday, founder of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that his forces had taken control of Russian military strongholds in the south of the country in a power grab that comes after relationships between the Russian military and Wagner group turned sour.
The Russian warlord (and once Putin's caterer before becoming a mercenary), claimed to hold the Russian army headquarters in Rostov, the nerve centre of operations in Ukraine, and to control several military sites.
“We are in the HQ, it’s 07:30 in the morning” (06:30 GMT), Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video on Telegram. “Rostov’s military sites are under control, including the airfield”.
Following his statements, Vladimir Putin was forced to admit that the situation in Rostov is indeed “difficult”.
This is reportedly a convoy of Wagner PMC coming to capture Buturlinovka airfield near Voronezh.
It hosts large military aircraft that the PMC can use to cover their march onto Moscow. pic.twitter.com/MyPFp4w7yz — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 24, 2023
In response to the rebellion, the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office announced an investigation into “armed mutiny” against the group that entered the rebellion with its claimed 25,000 men, after accusing the regular army of shelling its troops.
The authorities have stepped up security measures in Moscow, introducing an “anti-terrorist operation” after Prigozhin said in an audio message on Telegram: “We’re going on, we’ll go all the way... we’ll destroy anything that gets in our way”.
"Ready to die"
“We are all ready to die, all 25,000 of us. And then there will be another 25,000. We are dying for the motherland, we are dying for the Russian people who must be freed from those who are bombing the civilian population”, Prigozhin proclaimed.
Prigozhin claimed that his troops had shot down a Russian helicopter that had “opened fire on a civilian column”, with images circulating on social media though not yet verified.
#Russia: A helicopter (presumably Mi-8MTPR-1) of the Russian Ministry of Defense was shot down by Wagner forces today in #Voronezh Oblast.
Two of these electronic warfare helicopters were reportedly shot down in total. pic.twitter.com/mJfIsP41mU — 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 24, 2023
The governor of the Rostov region called on the population to “stay at home”, and the governor of Lipetsk, 420km south of Moscow, also announced “reinforced security measures”.
Why the insurrection?
Wagner’s boss had previously claimed that Russian strikes had caused a “very large number of casualties” in his ranks. He had delivered scathing attacks on Russian generals, accusing them of incompetence in previous communications.
Yet on Friday, Prigozhin's criticism amplified to condemnation for "missile strikes on [Wagner] camps... A very large number of our fighters were killed.” He blamed Russian Defence Minister Sergei Choigou for ordering the attacks.
In a call to arms against the Russian establishment, Wagner’s boss encouraged Russians to join his troops or not to resist them: “Those who have military responsibility for the country must be stopped.”
Russia's Defence Ministry dismissed the accusations, saying they “do not correspond to reality and are a provocation” Influential Russian general, Sergei Surovikin, urged Wagner fighters to give up their revolt.
All eyes on Russia
Exiled Russian dissident and businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky called for support for Prigozhin to fight Vladimir Putin’s regime: “Even the devil would have to be helped if he decided to go against this regime!”
The White House said it is closely monitoring the situation. In a statement, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that Wagner troops had “crossed from occupied Ukraine into Russia in at least two locations”.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry warns that Ukraine will “take advantage of Prigozhin’s provocation” and is preparing to attack on the Bakhmut.
In recent days, Putin has repeated that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has been a failure and that Kiev’s forces had suffered almost “catastrophic” losses. Yet Prigozhin has hotly contested these statements, saying instead that Russian forces have had high numbers of casualties.
