Moscow, Jun. 24, (dpa/GNA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken of “armed mutiny” after the uprising by the head of the Wagner mercenary army, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and has told the rebels they will face “inevitable punishment” in a televised address to the nation on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, Prigozhin said his fighters had taken control of key military installations in the southern Russian city Rostov-on-Don, including an airfield.
Prigozhin claimed to have also taken the Russian army’s headquarters for the south of the country in the city of over 1 million in the border region with Ukraine.
Putin confirmed the blockade of important facilities in Rostov-on-Don by the mercenary force.
“The work of civil and military governance bodies has been
actually blocked,” Putin said.
The president called on the Wagner fighters to immediately end their participation in criminal acts.
The Defence Ministry in Moscow has called on the mercenaries to surrender, and the Federal Security Service (FSB) has warned Wagner fighters against following Prigozhin’s orders and called on them to take action to detain him, according to reporting by Russian state news agency TASS.
Putin described the uprising by Prigozhin’s fighters as “a stab in the back” of Russia and the Russian people.
The Russian president said that Russia will defend both its people and its “statehood from any threats, including internal treachery,” as he vowed to defeat the uprising by the Wagner military group.
Prigozhin responded to Putin’s accusations on Saturday by saying that the head of the Kremlin was misjudging the situation surrounding the armed uprising of his mercenaries.
“The president is gravely mistaken,” Prigozhin said. “We are patriots of our homeland.”
Prigozhin, who is considered a close ally of Putin and plays a central role in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, has openly opposed the military leadership.
Security precautions were significantly expanded in the Russian capital Moscow on Saturday.
During the night, military vehicles were on the move in the city centre.
The authorities in Moscow and the surrounding area have declared a counterterrorism state of emergency against the background of the uprising.
Earlier in the morning, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin had announced “anti-terror measures.”
In the Russian metropolis with its more than 13 million inhabitants, increased traffic checks had been introduced on the streets.
The Wagner head had called for a fight against Moscow’s military leadership on Friday evening, according to the Interfax news agency.
Prigozhin accused Moscow’s military leadership of attacking his mercenary units and threatened countermeasures.
The FSB and Russia’s Defence Ministry denied Prigozhin’s allegations. All allegations were false and a “provocation,” the ministry said in a statement.
The National Antiterrorism Committee also called the allegations baseless.
GNA