Fighters of the private military contractor, Wagner Group, seized a military building outside Moscow early Saturday in what has now been described as a mutiny by President Vladimir Putin.
Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in an unexpected turn of events early Saturday, called for a rebellion against Russia’s army, an act Mr Putin described as a betrayal and a stab in the back.
“Any internal mutiny is a deadly threat to our state, to us as a nation. It’s a blow against Russia, against our people. And our actions to defend the fatherland from such a threat will be brutal,” Mr Putin promised.
“They will answer before the law and our people,” he assured.
According to news reports, the mutiny is the result of a long-running feud between Wagner’s chief Prigozhin and Russian military chiefs.
Wagner is a Russian private military contractor that has fought alongside Russia’s military in the ongoing war in Ukraine. The group is also present in some African…