- Wagner Group private militia says it captured a Russian military headquarters in Rostov
- Ukraine renews calls for military aid amid Russian internal unrest
- Wagner Group leader says he has 25,000 troops
Russian military helicopters opened fire on Saturday afternoon on a convoy of rebel mercenaries already more than halfway toward Moscow in a lightning advance after claiming to have seized a southern city overnight.
President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny he compared to Russia’s Civil War a century ago.
Fighters from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group private militia appeared to be in control of Rostov-on-Don, a city of more than a million people close to the border with Ukraine, and were rapidly advancing northward through western Russia.
A Reuters journalist saw army helicopters open fire at an armed Wagner Group column that was advancing past the city of Voronezh with troop carriers and at least one tank on a flatbed truck. The city is more than halfway along the 1,100-kilometre highway from Rostov to Moscow.
Prigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with the top brass, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District in Rostov after leading his forces into Russia from Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vows to crush an armed insurrection after fighters with the Wagner Group private militia took control of Rostov-on-Don, a city of more than a million people close to the border with Ukraine. Andrew Rasiulis with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute discusses the escalating situation.
In Rostov, which serves as the main rear logistical hub for Russia’s entire invasion force, residents milled about, filming on mobile phones, as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions. One tank was wedged between stucco buildings with posters advertising the circus. Another had “Siberia” daubed in red paint across the front, a clear statement of intent to sweep across the breadth of Russia.
Domestic crisis for Putin
The dramatic turn, with many details unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — which he called a “special military operation” — in February 2022. Britain’s Defence Ministry called it “the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times.”
In a televised address, Putin said that “excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason,” and called the mutiny a “stab in the back.”
“It is a blow to Russia, to our people. And our actions to defend the Fatherland against such a threat will be harsh,” he said.
“All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people.”
25,000 fighters to ‘restore justice,’ Prigozhin says
Prigozhin rebutted that he and his forces would not turn themselves in as Putin demanded.
“The president makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting for it,” Prigozhin said in an audio message.
“Nobody is going to turn themselves in and confess at the order of the president, the FSB [security service] or anyone else. Because we don’t want the country to continue to live any longer in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”
Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? CBC’s David Common investigates what’s known about the man leading the Wagner Group — Russia’s private mercenaries waging a bloody battle in Bakhmut, Ukraine.
Prigozhin has demanded that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, whom he has pledged to oust over what he says is their disastrous leadership of the war against Ukraine, come to see him in Rostov, a city near the Ukrainian border that he said he had seized control of.
He had said he had 25,000 fighters who would “restore justice” and had alleged, without providing evidence, that the military had killed a huge number of fighters from his Wagner private militia in an airstrike, something the Defence Ministry denied.
Prigozhin’s Wagner militia spearheaded the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, and he has for months been openly accusing Shoigu and Gerasimov of incompetence and of denying Wagner ammunition and support.
On Friday, he had appeared to cross a new line in the feud, saying that Putin’s stated rationale for invading Ukraine 16 months ago was based on lies concocted by the army’s top brass.
“The war was needed … so that Shoigu could become a marshal … so that he could get a second ‘Hero’ [of Russia] medal,” Prigozhin said in a video clip.
“The war wasn’t needed to demilitarize or denazify Ukraine,” he said, referring to Putin’s justifications for the war.
A Russian security source told Reuters that Wagner fighters had also taken control of military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about 500 kilometres south of Moscow. Reuters could not independently confirm that assertion or many of the details provided by Prigozhin.
Russia’s FSB security service opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for armed mutiny and said his statements were “calls for the start of an armed civil conflict on Russian territory.”
It added: “We urge the … fighters not to make irreparable mistakes, to stop any forcible actions against the Russian people, not to carry out the criminal and traitorous orders of Prigozhin, to take measures to detain him.”
‘Most significant challenge’
Many foreign governments reacted cautiously to Saturday’s developments, saying they were monitoring the situation.
“The United States will stay in close co-ordination with Allies and partners as the situation continues to develop,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter.
Blinken said he spoke with G7 foreign ministers and the European Union high representative for foreign affairs.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a Twitter post that he had been briefed on the situation in Russia.
“The Incident Response Group will meet today to discuss the latest developments,” he wrote. “We’re in contact with our allies and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
The Canadian response group involves the prime minister, cabinet ministers and government officials.
The U.K.’s Ministry of Defence said, in a regular intelligence update, that over the coming hours, “the loyalty of Russia’s security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how this crisis plays out.”
“This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times,” the ministry said.
“Latvia is closely following the developing situation in Russia and exchanging information with allies,” said Latvian Foreign Affairs Minister Edgars Rinkevics. “Border security has been strengthened, visa or border entry from Russians leaving Russia due to current events won’t be considered. No direct threat to Latvia at this time.”
Ukraine calls again for weapons
Amid the uprising by Prigozhin’s group, Ukraine’s foreign minister urged the international community on Saturday to “abandon false neutrality” on Russia and provide Kyiv with all of the weapons it needs to push Moscow’s forces out of Ukrainian territory.
“Those who said Russia was too strong to lose: look now,” Dmytro Kuleba posted on Twitter. “Time to abandon false neutrality and fear of escalation; give Ukraine all the needed weapons; forget about friendship or business with Russia.
“Time to put an end to the evil everyone despised but was too afraid to tear down.”
The G7 foreign ministers held a call this morning to discuss the overnight developments in Russia. We continue to closely monitor the situation. <br><br>If you are a Canadian national in Russia, please observe our travel advisory and safety instructions.
—@melaniejoly
‘Knife in the back’
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Putin, said on Saturday his military forces were ready to help put down the mutiny and to use harsh methods if necessary.
In a statement posted on the Telegram messaging service, Kadyrov called Prigozhin’s behaviour “a knife in the back” and called on Russian soldiers not to give in to any “provocations.”
He said Chechen units were moving toward the “zones of tension” and would act to “preserve Russia’s units and defend its statehood.”
Russian authorities have called on the head of the infamous Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, for organizing an armed rebellion. There are signs in the street that the government is preparing for armed conflict with military vehicles and roadblocks in the streets.
At about 2 a.m. Moscow time on Saturday, Prigozhin posted a message on the Telegram app saying his forces were in Rostov and ready to “go all the way” against the top brass and destroy anyone who stood in their way.
At about 5 a.m., the administration of the Voronezh region, on the M-4 highway between the regional capital Rostov-on-Don and Moscow, said on Telegram that a military convoy was on the highway and urged residents to avoid using it.
Prigozhin denies coup
Footage on channels based in Rostov-on-Don showed armed men in military uniform skirting the regional police headquarters in the city on foot, as well as tanks positioned outside the headquarters of the Southern Military District.
Reuters confirmed the locations shown but could not determine when the footage was shot.
Prigozhin denied that he was trying to stage a military coup.
He said he had led his fighters out of Ukraine to Rostov, where a video posted by a pro-Wagner Telegram channel showed him, seemingly relaxed, conversing with two generals at the headquarters of Russia’s huge Southern Military District.
The video showed him telling the generals: “We have arrived here, we want to receive the chief of the general staff and Shoigu. Unless they come, we’ll be here, we’ll blockade the city of Rostov and head for Moscow.”
Russian local officials said a military convoy was indeed on the main highway linking the southern part of European Russia with Moscow, and they warned residents to avoid it.
Army Lt.-Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev — who was later to appear with Prigozhin in the video from Rostov-on-Don — issued a video appeal asking Prigozhin to reconsider his actions.
“Only the president has the right to appoint the top leadership of the armed forces, and you are trying to encroach on his authority,” he said.
An unverified video on a Telegram channel close to Wagner showed the purported scene of an airstrike against Wagner forces. It showed a forest where small fires were burning and trees appeared to have been broken by force. There appeared to be one body, but no more direct evidence of any attack.
It carried the caption: “A missile attack was launched on the camps of PMC [Private Military Company] Wagner. Many victims. According to eyewitnesses, the strike was delivered from the rear, that is, it was delivered by the military of the Russian Ministry of Defence.”
The Defence Ministry said the allegation was false.
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