Security in a number of Russian regions was tightened as authorities sought to thwart an armed rebellion spearheaded by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
There was tighter security particularly in areas between the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where Prigozhin’s Wagner group appeared to control military headquarters, and Moscow.
The governor of the Lipetsk region asked residents to stay at home and refrain from traveling. Governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram that Wagner had entered the province but “the situation is under control.”
In the neighboring Tambov region, mass events were canceled Saturday.
Those events included high school graduation parties. Russia’s Education Ministry said such parties were being postponed until July 1 in Moscow, the region around the capital and “a number of other regions where additional anti-terrorist measures have been introduced.”
In the capital, traffic on the Moscow River was suspended. Police officers in bulletproof vests and with machine guns were seen near the entrance of the major highway that links Moscow with Voronezh and Rostovon-Don.
Prigozhin claims that his troops entered the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don without a single shot and says that no one was killed during what he calls a “march of justice.”
Prigozhin said in a new audio statement on Saturday that “we didn’t touch a single conscript, we didn’t kill a single person on our way.” He added that the Russian air force targeted his troops, but they still managed to seize military headquarters in Rostov “without a single gunshot.”
His claims could not be independently verified. The Russian authorities haven’t reported any casualties so far, either.
Shortly before Prigozhin released his statement, an explosion was heard near the military headquarters his Wagner group apparently controls in Rostov. It was not immediately clear where the explosion occurred, how big it was and whether it caused any damage.
Putin has called the armed rebellion by mercenary chief a betrayal and vowed to punish its leaders.
Prigozhin, the mercenary chief urging an uprising, has long ties to Putin.
Foreign ministers from the G7 discussed the matter Saturday morning, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly tweeted, and urged Canadians in Russia to “please observe our travel advisory and safety instructions.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said he has been briefed, and that the country’s Incident Response Group will be meeting later Saturday.
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“We’re in contact with our allies and will continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said.
The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken “reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change.” It said that the U.S. “will stay in close coordination” with allies and partners as the situation develops.
Early Saturday, Estonia’s prime minister said her country has stepped up border security following the armed rebellion in neighboring Russia.
Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, whose country is a strong backer of Ukraine and has tense relations with Russia, wrote on Twitter that Estonia is “closely following” developments and exchanging information with allies.
She wrote: “I can assure that there is no direct threat to our country. Border security has been strengthened.”
Britain’s defence ministry has described the 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.”
The update says there is very limited evidence of fighting between Wagner and Russian security forces.
“Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia’s security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how the crisis plays out,” it said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office says he told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that Turkey was ready to help resolve the stand-off in Russia with the mercenary Wagner group.
The Turkish presidency tweeted that, in a phone call with Putin, Erdogan “underlined the importance of acting with common sense” and said Ankara could help resolve events as soon as possible. It did not specify how Turkey could help.
Turkey has retained close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv during the war.
A Kremlin statement said Putin informed Erdogan “about the situation in the country related to an attempted armed rebellion,” and the Turkish president “expressed full support for the steps of the Russian leadership.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted that her country has been “watching the developments in Russia very attentively since yesterday evening” and is in close contact with partners.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zekenskyy says it is clear that Russia is suffering from “full-scale weakness” after Prigozhin launched an armed rebellion.
Zelenskyy said in comments posted on his Telegram channel Saturday that “anyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself.”
He said that “for a long time, Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government. And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it.”
“Russia’s weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness,” Zelenskyy said. “And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later. This is also obvious.”
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister says the “political crisis” in Russia provides Kyiv with a “window of opportunity.”
Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram Saturday that Moscow’s “erroneous decision” to start a war in Ukraine had brought about “the inevitable degradation of the Russian state.”
The rebellion by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin comes as Kyiv’s forces have been probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.
Speaking in Kyiv, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that “a coup is taking place in Russia, led by Prigozhin and his Wagner troops. Any coup, any problem that emerges in enemy’s rear aligns with our interest.”
He added that “it is early to estimate consequences.”
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni says she is monitoring events in Russia and they underline “how the aggression against Ukraine is provoking instability within the Russian Federation.”
Meloni said in comments to reporters in Austria later Saturday that the situation in Russia is hard to evaluate.
She said that “it is a very chaotic situation inside the Russian Federation, that is out of tune with certain propaganda we have seen in recent months.”
Prigozhin on Saturday denied allegations by Putin that he is betraying his country and called his fighters patriots.
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.”
Putin said in televised address to the nation earlier Saturday that “all those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment.”
He said that “the armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”
Officials across Russia have so far rallied behind Putin, publicly reiterating their allegiance to the Kremlin and urging Prigozhin to back down.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, said that lawmakers “stand for the consolidation of forces” and support Putin after his address to the nation on Saturday.
He added that fighters from Prigozhin’s Wagner Group “must make the only right choice: to be with their people, on the side of the law, to protect the security and future of the Motherland, to follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.”
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in a Telegram post that “we have one commander in chief. Not two, not three. One. And he urged everyone to unite.”
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen Republic who in the past has sided with Prigozhin in his criticism of the military leadership, also expressed his full support for “every word of” Putin. He said that “the mutiny needs to be suppressed.”
So far, no Russian official has spoken out in support of Prigozhin.
But unexpected support for his endeavor came from exiled tycoon turned opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky said in a Facebook post that Prigozhin’s rebellion is “the strongest blow to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s reputation,” and that helping him get to Moscow would be “helping our country.”
He said Prigozhin had “repeated word for word what we, the anti-war opposition, have been saying since the beginning of the war” — that the “purpose of the war is theft” and no one believes in the official reason for the war in Ukraine.
Khodorkovsky wrote: “Help the devil, if he decides to oppose this regime! Help because there is no crime worse than unleashing an aggressive war. If one criminal is ready to interfere with another … we need to help, and then, if necessary, we will tackle them.”
A Ukrainian presidential adviser says that the start of his country’s counteroffensive has “finally destabilized the Russian elites” and intensified internal splits.
Mykhailo Podolyak said Saturday that events are “developing according to the scenario that we have been talking about for the past year,” Ukraine’s Interfax news agency reported.
He added: “Today we are actually witnessing the beginning of a civil war.”
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