According to the TASS news agency, President Vladimir Putin has been made aware of the latest developments and “necessary measures are being taken” – amid reports the FSB is opening a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Russia has opened a criminal case against the head of the Wagner mercenary group for alleged armed mutiny, with security tightened in the capital.
Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the country’s defence ministry of targeting his troops and ordering a rocket strike on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine – killing “a huge number of our comrades”.
He warned that his troops will move to punish defence minister Sergei Shoigu – and urged the army not to offer resistance.
“This is not an armed rebellion, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin said.
However, there is no evidence so far of any movement or march by Wagner troops.
The FSB has urged Wagner Group fighters not to carry out “criminal and traitorous orders” at Prigozhin’s request – and instead, to take steps to apprehend him.
Local agencies carried a statement from the security service which said the mercenary chief’s remarks amount to a call to start armed civil conflict in Russia – and are a “stab in the back” for the nation’s troops.
The Russian defence ministry has denied orchestrating an attack on Wagner fighters – describing the allegations as “untrue and an informational provocation”.
According to the TASS news agency, President Vladimir Putin has been made aware of the latest developments – and “necessary measures are being taken”.
Security has now been tightened at key facilities in Moscow as riot police and the National Guard scrambled to protect government agencies and transport infrastructure.
Prigozhin had claimed the assault happened after he criticised the country’s top brass in an explosive outburst on the Telegram messaging app.
In a video, he had said the Kremlin’s rationale for invading Ukraine last February was based on lies – and the “evil” of Russia’s military leadership must be stopped.
Prigozhin also alleged that the defence minister ordered 2,000 bodies of Wagner fighters to be hidden in a southern Russia morgue.
Deborah Haynes, Sky’s security and defence editor, has described the latest developments as serious – and a “fairly extraordinary escalation in the vitriol between the head of the Wagner mercenary group and the Russian ministry of defence”.