Putin vows to punish organizers of armed rebellion as convoy inches toward Moscow
Denouncing a “stab in the back” by a rebellious mercenary army, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday to punish those behind an armed uprising that could threaten his more than two-decade-old grip on power and alter the course of the war in Ukraine.
A private army known as the Wagner Group that has buttressed the Russian invasion of Ukraine — even while its chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was bitterly feuding with Russia’s defense establishment — appeared to have seized control of Russian defense headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a southern city that is a key staging point for the Ukraine war.
As a rebel convoy moved northward Saturday in the direction of Moscow, nearly 700 miles away, Russian military helicopters opened fire on it, news agencies reported. Later, the governor of a province less than 300 miles from the capital was cited by the Associated Press as saying that Wagner fighters had entered the region, Lipetsk.
Rhetoric about democracy papered over policies advanced by Narendra Modi and his party that discriminate against India’s Muslims and limit freedom of speech and the press.
The prospect of a nuclear-armed superpower falling into disarray terrified neighboring countries throughout Europe and put the White House on alert. Officials in numerous European capitals went into emergency sessions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was in urgent consultation with his counterparts in six nations, including Germany and Japan, as well as the European Union as all sought to make sense of the rapidly unfolding developments.
“It looks like Putin’s power of centralized, vertical strong government control is in question for the first time,” said Rajan Menon, a political scientist who specializes in war and ethics at City University of New York and Columbia University.
“I think this is really going to be the [Russian] state against Prigozhin,” Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told CNN. “I have to think the state is still going to [prevail] but I think it’s the end for Putin.”
While not immediately clear how, the crisis in Russia was bound to affect the war in Ukraine.
The bizarre turn of events across the border was regarded with caution by Ukrainian officials. While most said it was too soon to say how the unfolding turmoil might affect the battlefield picture, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that it showed Ukraine stands as a bulwark against “the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”
Russian private military contractor Wagner is busy boosting its brand as its fighters try to subdue Ukraine, trading secrecy for war propaganda movies.
Many ordinary Ukrainians reacted to word of Putin’s troubles with undisguised glee. The 16-month-old invasion has leveled entire cities, pummeled national infrastructure, sent millions of Ukrainians fleeing their homes and killed and maimed thousands of civilians.
An overnight missile barrage on the capital, Kyiv, killed at least three people, Ukrainian officials said.
Prigozhin’s mercenaries have fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, where they have been known for their use of spectacularly brutal tactics. During the bloody struggle for the eastern city of Bakhmut, Wagner used prisoner recruits for “human wave” attacks and executed those from its own ranks who faltered or tried to run away.
In what was described as an emergency address to the nation, Putin did not mention Prigozhin by name, but vowed to crush those taking part in the uprising.
For his part, Prigozhin refrained from criticizing Putin’s rule directly, but cast himself as a popular savior against “corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.” He said the Russian president was “deeply mistaken” in describing the rebellion as an assault on the homeland.
“We are patriots,” he said in an audio message posted on his Telegram channel, calling the uprising a “march of justice.”
Few Western journalists have remained in Russia following the March arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and a concerted campaign against independent Russian media that began almost as soon as the invasion occurred. Criticism of the military or the government’s conduct of the war is treated as a criminal offense.
The Wagner mercenary group’s boss threatens to leave the Ukrainian city next week, accusing Russia’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition.
In part because of that, many questions about the uprising remain unanswered. Social media images posted by onlookers in Rostov-on-Don have shown military vehicles in the streets surrounding the headquarters.
Prigozhin posted a video of himself, purportedly taken inside, and said Wagner troops who took part in the rebellion had crossed over from Ukraine with virtually no resistance from Russian troops.
In their march toward Moscow, Wagner elements did not seem to meet much resistance, according to reports from Russia.
Although the threat to Putin is manifesting itself from within, the Russian president — as he has throughout the war — railed against the West as the enemy and instigator. Russia, he declared, is the target of “the entire military, economic and information machine of the West.”
Prigozhin has denounced the Russian military establishment for months with no apparent repercussions, seemingly with a tacit permission from Putin. But his declaration of armed rebellion, issued late Friday, may have crossed a line and triggered a call by authorities for his arrest.
Putin, who has taken harsh measures to quell any domestic dissent since the February 2022 invasion, suggested a crackdown against perceived conspirators was already beginning in the Russian capital.
“Additional anti-terrorist security measures are now being implemented in Moscow, Moscow region, and a number of other regions,” he said, adding that “decisive actions would be taken to stabilize the situation” in Rostov-on-Don.
The Russian Defense Ministry backs the statement by the head of the Russian private army Wagner, saying his forces have taken control of Bakhmut.
But he acknowledged the situation in the southern city, which is a major hub of operations for the Ukraine war, remained “difficult.”
In recent months, Prigozhin has taken ever-sharpening aim at Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the military general staff. But he dramatically escalated his rhetoric in a series of angry messages over a period of about 24 hours, accusing the pair of ordering attacks on Wagner positions inside Ukraine.
Russia’s defense ministry denied the claim.
Prigozhin’s longer-term strategy remained unclear. Menon said the man once known as Putin’s chef, because of his lucrative restaurant businesses, is not thought to be a gambler who would take uncalculated suicidal risks. He could have backing within Putin’s inner circle that is unknown to Western observers, or some other reason to believe he will prevail.
“This goes beyond fighting a war in Ukraine,” Menon said. “This is playing for keeps.”
King reported from Kyiv and Wilkinson from Washington.
Russian private military contractor Wagner is busy boosting its brand as its fighters try to subdue Ukraine, trading secrecy for war propaganda movies.
The Wagner mercenary group’s boss threatens to leave the Ukrainian city next week, accusing Russia’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition.
The Russian Defense Ministry backs the statement by the head of the Russian private army Wagner, saying his forces have taken control of Bakhmut.
The head of the Russian private militia Wagner says his forces have started pulling out of Bakhmut and handing control over to the Russian military.
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