Putin vows to crush 'armed mutiny' from Wagner

STORY: Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin for an “armed mutiny” by the militia.

He said that Russia is facing “state treason”.

In a televised address on Saturday (June 24), he said authorities will take “decisive action” to stabilize the situation in Rostov, a southern Russian city which Wagner says it has taken control of.

Footage shot by Reuters showed heavily armed Wagner troops and military vehicles posted in the city's streets.

A video posted by a pro-Wagner Telegram channel showed Prigozhin, seemingly relaxed, conversing with two generals at the headquarters of Russia's huge Southern Military District.

He could be seen demanding to see army chief Sergei Shoigu in Rostov - or else, he would blockade the city and head for Moscow.

That came soon after Prigozhin announced a “march for justice” with 25,000 fighters, all the way to Moscow to oust the military leadership as punishment, according to Prigozhin, for an alleged Russian air strike that killed a huge number of his mercenaries.

He made the announcement in a series of audio clips released Friday (June 23), in which the sound of his voice sometimes varied and could not be independently verified.

Prigozhin said his actions were not a military coup, but he vowed to punish those “who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers”, and he was ready to “go all the way” against the top brass and destroy anyone in their way.

Raising stakes in what seems to be the biggest domestic crisis in Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Russian state-run Rossiya-24 channel interrupted its programming on Friday to relay a statement from the Defense Ministry saying Prigozhin’s allegations were “untrue and a provocation.”

Russia’s Federal Security Bureau urged Wagner fighters, quote, “not to make irreparable mistakes … not to carry out the criminal and traitorous orders of Prigozhin, and to take measures to detain him.”

Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin released a video on Telegram that the Ukraine war was based on lies:

"Why was the war needed? The war was needed so that a handful of scumbags could have a blast and get PR attention showing how strong the army is."

It’s the first time he’s publicly rejected Moscow’s official justification of the war, which is a jailable offense in Russia.

And it marks an escalation of his criticism of military top brass – mainly targeting army chief Sergei Shoigu and Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov.

Prigozhin’s militia spearheaded the capture of Bakhmut last month at an enormous human cost.

And the mercenary chief has in the past managed to exploit Wagner’s battlefield success to berate Moscow, while carefully avoiding direct criticism of President Vladimir Putin.