Chaos in Russia works to Kyiv's advantage, Ukraine officials said on Saturday, but it remains to be seen whether President Volodymyr Zelensky and his army can capitalize on the disorder caused this weekend as mercenaries marched towards Moscow.
Late on Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a founder of the Wagner army, said he was halting his "march for justice" on Moscow after a deal that spared him and his mercenaries from facing criminal charges.
The deal also exiled Prigozhin to Belarus.
Go to the full article >>Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called an armed mutiny after rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday he had taken control of a southern city as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership.
The dramatic turn, with many details unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine - which he called a "special military operation" - in February last year.
Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that it warned Western countries against using the Wagner mercenary group's mutiny "to achieve their Russophobic goals".
In a televised address, Putin said that "excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason," and called the mutiny a "stab in the back."
"It is a blow to Russia, to our people. And our actions to defend the Fatherland against such a threat will be harsh."
"All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people," Putin said.
Go to the full article >>Iran supports the rule of law in the Russian Federation and considers the latest developments there an internal Russian matter, Iranian state media quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani as saying on Saturday.
The Security Council of Belarus also said on Saturday that Minsk remained an ally of Russia and that internal disputes were "a gift to the collective West."
It released the statement in response to a mutiny in Russia by the Wagner mercenary army.
Go to the full article >>Reuters saw troop carriers and a flatbed truck carrying a tank careening past the city of Voronezh more than halfway to Moscow, where a helicopter fired on them. But there were no reports of the rebels meeting any substantial resistance on the highway.
More than 100 firefighters were in action at a fuel depot ablaze in Voronezh. Video footage obtained by Reuters showed it blowing up in a fireball shortly after a helicopter flew by. Prigozhin accused Russia's military of hitting civilian targets from the air as it tried to slow the column's advance.
Mutinous Russian mercenary fighters barrelled towards Moscow on Saturday after seizing a southern city overnight, with Russia's military firing on them from the air but seemingly incapable of slowing their lightning advance.
Facing the first serious challenge to his grip on power of his 23-year rule, President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny he compared to Russia's Civil War a century ago.
The fighters of the Wagner private army run by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin were already most of the way to the capital, having captured the city of Rostov and set off on a 1,100 km (680 miles) race to Moscow.
Prigozhin's mercenaries strengthened their positions in #Rostov and planted mines on the roads. https://t.co/KxudLlzqRX pic.twitter.com/XPDau54qHc
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 24, 2023
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