President Vladimir Putin has now addressed the Russian nation by television, vowing “punishment” hours after Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin declared he was withdrawing his troops from Ukraine and marching his mercenary army to Moscow.
An “armed rebellion” against Moscow is treason and betrayal, and a threat to the Russian state which the government will “react harshly” to with “inevitable punishment, Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Saturday morning. He also stated that “antiterrorist measures” were now in place in Moscow itself.
Warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, the commander of the Wagner Private Military Company which is engaged around the world but particularly in Ukraine, where it had fought some of the toughest battles against Ukrainian defenders on behalf of Putin, has said he is taking his army to Moscow but insists it is not a coup.
People walk past an armoured personnel carrier in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
Members of Wagner group stand guard in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
As previously reported, his army has already crossed into Russia and the move follows months of feuds between Wagner and Moscow, which recently have developed into accusations by the group that they have come under actual attack by theoretically allied Russian forces. Prigozhin accuses the Russian government, and particularly Russian Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu of corruption and incompetence and says his army is now on a “march for freedom” to Moscow.
Per an intelligence digest by Britain’s Ministry of Defence this morning, the Wagner Mercenaries are proceeding towards Russia without meeting resistance and have occupied Rostov-on-Don, the “HQ which runs Russia’s military operations in Ukraine”. Given how little fighting there is as Wagner’s troops move north through Rostov and Voronezh, it seems likely Russian security forces “have likely remained passive”, in other words, waved the mercenaries through.
