The Wagner paramilitary forces of Yevgeny Prigozhin have reportedly broken through to the Lipetsk Region, around 230 miles south of Moscow, amid concerns that the band of mercenaries are planning on staging a coup against Vladimir Putin’s government.
According to the governor of the Lipetsk Oblast (region), Igor Artamonov, the rogue mercenary forces of Wagner Private Military Company are moving through the area, which is located just 370km (230 miles) south of the Russian capital.
“The situation remains under control,” Artamonov said per Russian state media RT, adding that the Oblast’s critical infrastructure remains intact.
Earlier in the day, British military intelligence suggested that the Wagner group was marching north through the Voronezh region “almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow”.
The Spasskaya Tower is seen through metal barriers at Moscow’s Red Square on June 24, 2023. Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP) (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images)
Prigozhin, who claims to have around 25,000 men under his control, was issued with an arrest warrant on Friday evening for allegedly inciting an “armed uprising” against the Kremlin.
The Wagner boss has denied that he is staging a coup, but rather conducting a “march for freedom” to punish the Russian top military brass, which he has accused of striking his paramilitary forces with missile strikes in Ukraine where Wagner has been fighting on the front lines against the Western-backed forces of Volodymyr Zelensky.
In response to the threat of a direct strike against the capital, the Kremlin has closed off highways into Moscow as well as instituting counter-terrorism measures throughout the city.
Meanwhile, the Islamist Akhmat special forces unit of Chechnya has reportedly reached the city of Rostov-on-Don, which Wagner has allegedly taken control of after seizing a Russian military headquarters, which has been instrumental in setting out military operations in Ukraine.
Unlike Wagner, the Islamist Akhmat group — also known as the Kadyrovites — agreed earlier this month to come under the direct control of Russia’s Ministry of Defence, a move which Prigozhin could not stomach, given his longstanding feud with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.
ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA – JUNE 24: Members of Wagner group on streets amid escalating tensions between the Kremlin and the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on June 24, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Islamist head of the Russian-controlled Chechen Republic, continued to pledge his allegiance to Vladimir Putin on Saturday, saying according to the Russian TASS state news service: “It is necessary for the military, security forces, governors and the civilian population to rally around the national leader.”
“Each of us sees only one part of the map, but he sees it all! The president noted quite correctly in his address to the nation – this is a military mutiny! There is no excuse for such actions! I fully support Putin’s every word,” Kadyrov continued.
Pledging his support against the Wagner forces, the Chechen leader said: “Soldiers of the Ministry of Defense and Chechnya’s units of the National Guard (Rosgvardiya) have already left for the areas of tensions. We will do everything to preserve the unity of Russia and to protect its statehood!”
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