Wagner group mutiny against Russia updates | June 24, 2023

Moscow had braced for the arrival of forces from the Wagner Group, a private army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin that has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on the city’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads.

But Mr. Prigozhin announced that while his men were just 200 km from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood.”

He did not say whether the Kremlin had responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There was no immediate comment from Mr. Putin’s government.

Read the full report here.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had ordered his fighters, who had been advancing on Moscow, to turn around and return to their bases in order to avoid bloodshed, according to Reuters.

Prigozhin said his fighters had advanced 200 km (124 miles)towards Moscow in the last 24 hours.

“We’re turning around our convoys and going in the opposite direction,” he said in a voice message published by his Concord firm, according to Moscow Times.

The office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday that he had brokered a deal with mutinous Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin who had agreed to de-escalate the situation.

The announcement, carried on the official Telegram channel of the Belarusian presidency, said Prigozhin had agreed to halt the further movement of Wagner fighters across Russia.

- Reuters

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have launched several new offensives on their eastern front, confronting Russian troops in the Donbas region, and have claimed more ground, a minister said.

Deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar said Ukrainian forces had assaulted Russian lines near the towns of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut, Bodanivka, Yagidne, Klishchivka and Kurdyumivka.

“There is progress in all directions,” she said.

- AFP

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by telephone with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on the unfolding crisis in Russia, the White House said.

Mr. Biden and his European counterparts discussed “the situation in Russia,” a White House statement said, adding that the leaders “affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine.”

- AFP

Countries around the world are closely watching events unfolding in Russia as Wagner rebels advanced towards Moscow.

Read what governments and analysts are saying about it.

In January when the Russians took Soledar, a salt mine city in the outskirts of Bakhmut in Donetsk, their first major victory in months, it was Wagner that announced the breakthrough first. In Bakhmut, which has seen deadly fighting for seven months, Wagner is leading the offensive. Yevgeny Prigozhin now has powerful allies such as Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya. If he had kept a low profile in the past, now he’s stepped out of the shadows.

Read the full profile here.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday asked people to refrain from trips around the city as far as possible.

Sobyanin also said in a statement that Monday would be a non-working day - with some exceptions - in order ‘to minimise risks.’

- Reuters

The British government’s emergency committee, known as COBR, met on Saturday to discuss the latest developments in Russia and the risks to British citizens there, a government spokesperson said.

“The Foreign Secretary has chaired a meeting of COBR to update on the latest situation, particularly with respect to British nationals in Russia,” a government spokesperson said.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also took part in a meeting with counterparts from the Group of Seven major advanced economies.

- Reuters

Latvia’s president-elect said the Baltic state had tightened its border security in response to the mutiny underway in Russia and would not be admitting Russians.

“Latvia is closely following the developing situation in Russia... Border security has been strengthened, visa or border entry from Russians leaving Russia due to current events won’t be considered,” Edgars Rinkevics said on Twitter.

- AFP

Russian mutineering Wagner mercenaries were “moving across” the Lipetsk region some 400 kilometres south of Moscow, the governor said Saturday, en route to Moscow after vowing to overthrow Russia’s military leadership.

“Hardware of the Wagner mercenary group is moving across the territory of the Lipetsk region,” governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram. “I remind you that residents are strongly recommended not to leave their houses or to make trips on any mode of transport.”

- AFP

Russia’s close ally Belarus said that the armed insurrection underway by the Wagner mercenary group was a “gift” to Western countries, warning the uprising could spell “disaster”.

“Any provocation, any internal conflict in military or political circles, in the information field or in civil society is a gift to the collective West,” the Belarusian foreign ministry said, citing a statement by Minsk’s Security Council.

- AFP

Ever since the 2014 Ukrainian conflict, the Wagner Group has expanded its operations to many parts of the world, from Africa to West Asia and Latin America. In most of the countries, they were deployed, as Vladimir Putin said in the Duma, Russia could expand its military footprint and associated political influence, without actually sending Russian armed forces. Now, during Russia’s Ukraine, the Wagner contractors were deployed alongside Russian soldiers in the battlefields.

Read more about the Wagner group here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a call on Saturday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who said he backed the Russian government’s handling of a mutiny by the Wagner mercenary army, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law permitting 30-day detentions for breaking martial law in places where it has been imposed, the RIA news agency reported.

- Reuters

Ukraine said Saturday that unrest in Russia presented an opportunity for Kyiv, weeks after announcing a counter-offensive against Russian positions.

“What does this mean for us? It is a window of opportunity,” said Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar, adding that Russia’s military and political leadership: “fight with us and destroy themselves.”

-AFP

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters captured the army HQ in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don “without firing a single shot” and claimed to have the support of locals.

“Why does the country support us? Because we went on a march of justice,” Prigozhin said in his latest Telegram audio message. “We got to Rostov. Without a single shot we captured the building of the (army) HQ.”

- AFP

Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, said on Saturday it was clear that what he called an attempt to destabilise society and ignite a fratricidal civil war had failed, the TASS news agency reported.

- Reuters

Qatar expressed its concerns over the situation in Russia and called for “maximum restraint” from all parties, the Foreign Ministry statement said in a statement.

“The Foreign Ministry warns that escalation in Russia and Ukraine will have negative consequences for international peace and security and will impact food and energy supplies,” the statement added.

Reuters

Pro-war Russian nationalists led by a former FSB security service officer said they would soon publish a plan of action to respond to an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.

The Russian nationalist group, known as the “Club of Angry Patriots”, said in a statement that a civil war could lead to a humiliating military defeat for the Russian army in Ukraine and warned that Russia was on the brink of catastrophe.

Reuters

Authorities in Russia’s southwestern Lipetsk region urged residents to stay at home on Saturday after the Wagner mercenary group vowed to take up arms to topple the country’s military leadership.

“To ensure law and order and the safety of the citizens of the Lipetsk region, the operational headquarters of the region asks residents without urgent need not to leave their homes and refrain from any travel by personal or public transport,” the press service of the regional government said in a statement on social media.

AFP

The British Government’s emergency committee, known as Cobra, is meeting to discuss the ongoing situation in Russia, BBC reporter Laura Kuenssberg said on Saturday.

Kuenssberg interviewed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier on Saturday, when he said he would speak with allies and urged all parties in the conflict in Russia to avoid harm to civilians.

Reuters

Russian army helicopters opened fire on a Wagner mercenary military convoy on the M4 highway outside the city of Voronezh on Saturday, a Reuters witness said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister urged the international community to “abandon false neutrality” on Russia and provide Kyiv all the weapons it needs to push Moscow’s forces out of Ukrainian territory.

Dmytro Kuleba made the remarks amid an apparent mutiny by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin against the Russian military.

Navigation on the Moskva river, which runs through the Russian capital Moscow, was temporarily suspended amid a mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, the state TASS news agency TASS reported, citing the authorities.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a separate statement that no restrictions had been put in place for cars and lorries coming in and out of the city, but said security checks had been stepped up.

Reuters

President Vladimir Putin spoke on Saturday to Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing Putin’s spokesman.

The Kremlin said that Putin had also spoken to the leaders of Belarus and Kazakhstan on Saturday.

- Reuters

A fuel depot was on fire in Russia’s southern city of Voronezh, the local governor announced after Moscow said the army was leading “combat” in the region amid a mutiny from Wagner mercenaries.

“In Voronezh, (authorities) are extinguishing a burning fuel depot,” the governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram. “There are 100 firefighters and more than 30 vehicles at the scene,” he added, saying there were “no victims according to the first data.”

Gusev did not give the cause of the fire, but some media have published a video showing a military helicopter in the area before an explosion.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Britain and its allies were “keeping a close eye on the situation” in Russia, as he urged “all parties to be responsible and to protect civilians”.

“We’re in touch with our allies as the situation evolves. I’ll be speaking to some of them later today and the most important thing is for all parties to behave responsibly,” the U.K. leader told the BBC.

In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took the threat, security was heightened in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and other regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “Russia’s weakness is obvious” and that the longer Moscow keeps its troops and mercenaries in Ukraine, the more chaos it would invite back home.

“Russia’s weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later.”

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone, Tokayev’s office said, and described the events in Russia as its internal affair while saying rule of law was necessary to maintain order.

Putin briefed Tokayev on the situation in Russia, the Kazakh president’s office said, and thanked him for the understanding Kazakhstan has expressed.

European Council President Charles Michel said on Saturday he was “closely monitoring” the situation in Russia and was in touch with fellow European Union leaders and G7 partners.

The head of Russia’s powerful Orthodox Church called for unity in the face of an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.

Patriarch Kirill in a statement said:

“Any attempt to sow discord within the country is the greatest crime, which has no excuse whatsoever.

I offer my prayers for the peaceful resolution of the current situation and call on those who have picked up weapons and are ready to use them against their brethren to come to their senses.”

Germany’s foreign ministry told travellers to avoid the city of Rostov and the surrounding area as well as Moscow city centre until further notice due to events taking place in Russia.

“In Moscow, state, especially military facilities, are to be avoided. The city centre should be avoided until further notice. The instructions of Russian security authorities should be followed at all costs,” it said in its updated travel advice.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called on Russians to rally around President Vladimir Putin amid a mutiny by the Wagner Group mercenary army.

Russian mercenary leader Yevgheny Prigozhin denied allegations by President Vladimir Putin that he is betraying his country and called his fighters patriots.

In an audio message on his Telegram channel, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said: “Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland.”

He said his fighters would not turn themselves in at the request of Putin, as “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”

The speakers of both of Russia’s houses of parliament said they backed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has urged the Wagner mercenary group to halt a bid to oust the country’s military leadership.

The head of the upper house of parliament Valentina Matvienko said Putin has members’ “full support,” while the speaker of the lower house Vyacheslav Volodin urged Russians to “support” the long-time leader.

NATO is “monitoring the situation” in Russia, a spokeswoman for the transatlantic military alliance said via email on Saturday.

The spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, had no further comment.

Estonia has strengthened its border security and urges people not to travel to any part of neighbouring Russia, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Saturday.

“I can assure that there is no direct threat to our country,” Kallas tweeted.

The governor of Russia’s southern region of Voronezh said that Russian military were taking necessary measures to suppress an attempt by the Wagner mercenary group to topple the country’s senior military leadership.

“As part of the counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Voronezh region, the armed forces of the Russian Federation are carrying out necessary operational and combat measures,” the official, Alexander Gusev, said in a statement on social media.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said his forces were ready to help put down a mutiny by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and to use harsh methods if necessary.

Kadyrov in a statement called Prigozhin’s behaviour “a knife in the back” and called on Russian soldiers not to give in to any “provocations.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that the rebellion by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin shows ​Russia’s invasion of Ukraine​ is backfiring against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meloni “is following closely the events unfolding in Russia, which show how its aggression against Ukraine is causing instability within the Russian Federation,” Meloni’s office said in a statement.

Britain’s Defence Ministry has described the Wagner mercenary group’s armed rebellion as the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times.

The ministry’s intelligence update posted Saturday says that the feud between Yevgeny Prigozhin’s group and the Russian state has “escalated into outright military confrontation’’

“In Rostov-on-Don, Wagner has almost certainly occupied key security sites, including the HQ which runs Russia’s military operations in Ukraine,’’ the update said. “Further Wagner units are moving north through Voronezh Oblast, almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow.”

Ukraine’s head of military intelligence says the conflict between the Russian military leadership and mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is “a frontal clash of lies and truth.”

Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrainian television on Saturday that the conflict stands out because Prigozhin, whether “you like him or not, he mainly says (the) truth” while Russia’s Defense Ministry tells “mainly lies.”

He said that the conflict “is not fake.”

Budanov said that, while senior Defense Ministry officials talk of advances with young and brave soldiers, Prigozhin points to miscalculations, poor equipment, lack of training and other problems.

The Russian-installed heads of Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow expressed support for President Vladimir Putin as Russia faces an extraordinary mutiny by mercenaries from the Wagner group.

“The Kherson region and the people of Kherson completely support our president!”, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said on Telegram. The Kremlin-appointed head of the part of the Zaporizhzhia region controlled by Moscow, Yevgeny Balitsky, said the territory was “with the president.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin briefed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on the situation in Russia, according to a message posted on the Belarusian presidency’s official Telegram channel.

Putin has vowed to crush what he calls an armed mutiny after rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had taken control of a southern city as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership.

Emmanuel Macron is closely monitoring the situation in Russia after the Wagner mercenary group launched an armed mutiny against the Kremlin’s forces, the French president’s office said Saturday.

“The president is following the situation very closely. We remain focussed on supporting Ukraine,” the Elysee said.

After fighting erupted in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on April 15, questions have been raised over the involvement of the Wagner group, which has been active in African countries for years.

Explained | The Wagner group’s actions in Africa

how the Russia-backed Wagner group is operating in different countries of Africa both politically and economically

Ever since the 2014 Ukrainian conflict, the Wagner Group has expanded its operations to many parts of the world, from Africa to West Asia and Latin America. In most of the countries they were deployed, as Mr. Putin said in the Duma, Russia could expand its military footprint and associated political influence, without actually sending Russian armed forces.

There are several Russian private paramilitary companies that are registered abroad. The Wagner Group, however, remains a shadowy organisation. Wagner is not a registered business in Russia — and where it has been registered, if at all, remains a mystery.

Wagner Group | Russia’s shadowy private soldiers 

In this profile by The Hindu, Stanly Johny brings insights from Russia’s shadowy world of Wagner mercenaries.

Putin vowed to defend the country and its people from an armed rebellion declared by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Putin said the mutiny amounted to “a deadly threat to our statehood” and vowed “tough actions” in response. “All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment. The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders,” Putin said.

Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday that the Russian state was facing its greatest security challenge of recent times, following what it said appeared to be a move by Wagner Group mercenary forces towards Moscow.

“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,” Britain’s defence ministry said in a regular intelligence update.

“This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times,” it added.

Vladimir Putin said in an emergency televised address on Saturday that an “armed mutiny” by the Wagner Group mercenary force was treason, and that anyone who had taken up arms against the Russian military would be punished.

He said he would do everything to protect Russia, and that “decisive action” would be taken to stabilise the situation in Rostov-on-Don, a southern city where Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces had taken control of all military installations.

He added that an armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries was a “stab in the back” and that the group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had betrayed Russia.

The head of Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin announced Saturday that he was inside the army HQ in southern Russia’s Rostov-on-Don and that his fighters control the city’s military sites, including an aerodrome, after vowing to bring down Moscow’s top brass.

“We are inside the (army) headquarters, it is 7:30 am (0430 GMT),” Prigozhin said in a video on Telegram. “Military sites in Rostov, including an aerodrome, are under control,” he added.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to suggest he had sent an armed convoy on a 1,200-km (750-mile) charge towards Moscow on Saturday in an unlikely attempt to topple the military leadership.

Russian local officials said a military convoy was on the main motorway linking the southern part of European Russia, bordering Ukraine, with Moscow, and warned residents to avoid it.

The mayor of Moscow said on Saturday that “anti-terror” measures were being taken in the Russian capital after the chief of mercenary group Wagner vowed to bring down the country’s military leadership.

Authorities in the regions of Rostov and Lipetsk also said security had been reinforced there.

The chief of mercenary group Wagner said on Saturday that his 25,000-strong force was “ready to die” as he vowed to topple Russia’s military leadership.

“All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a new audio message. “We are dying for the Russian people.”