Wagner chief's vow to topple Russian military leaders a 'stab in the ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left and Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group. Photo: AFP / Sputnik

By Christy Cooney and Rebecca Seales for the BBC*

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken publicly for the first time since Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, vowed to "go all the way" to topple Russia's military leadership.

In a video statement, Putin said some Russians have been "tricked into a criminal adventure" - without specifically mentioning rebellious Wagner fighters.

Putin said Russia's future is at stake, describing the actions of mutineers as a "stab in the back".

The high "ambitions" of some have led to "high treason", he said.

The Russian president also warned of "inevitable punishment" for those dividing the Russian society.

He stressed that "decisive measures would be taken to stabilise the situation" in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where Prigozhin claimed to have taken control of all "military facilities".

In his speech, Putin again claimed that Russia was now "rebuffing neo-Nazi aggression" - the standard Kremlin propaganda rhetoric to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

He said a counter-terrorism regime is now in place in the capital Moscow and several other regions.

On Friday night, security in Russia was tightened, the internet was restricted and military trucks were spotted on Moscow streets.

Earlier the Kremlin accused Prigozhin of "armed rebellion".

Russian law enforcement forces appear to have raided the Wagner office in St Petersburg, the BBC said local news outlet Fontanka had reported.

"Law enforcers have entered PMC Wagner Centre on St Petersburg's Zolnaya street," Fontanka said.

Two buses with riot police and national guards had arrived at the building, it reported, entering together with people in plain clothing.

Fontanka posted about the raid on its Telegram channel on Saturday local time.

The news outlet claimed that "people in masks and with automatic rifles" were deployed near St Petersburg's Blagoveshchensky bridge, where a hotel and a restaurant linked to Wagner boss Yevgeni Prigozhin are located.

Fontanka later published what is said was a video of law enforcement entering the Wagner Centre and photos of armed men near Prigozhin-linked properties.

Prigozhin said his Wagner fighters had crossed the border from Ukraine into Russia, entering the city of Rostov, and his men would destroy anyone who stood in their way.

The local governor urged citizens there to keep calm and stay indoors.

Prigozhin claimed that his forces had shot down a Russian military helicopter that "opened fire on a civilian convoy". He did not give a location and the assertion could not be immediately verified.

Video has been posted this evening claiming to show Prigozhin inside Russia's southern military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don.

In one video Prigozhin says his troops will blockade the city and move on to Moscow unless Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov come to meet them.

"We have arrived here, we want to receive the chief of the general staff and Shoigu. Unless they come, we'll be here, we'll blockade the city of Rostov and head for Moscow," he says.

The Wagner Group is a private army of mercenaries that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine.

Tension has been growing between them over how the war has been fought, with Prigozhin launching vocal criticisms of Russia's military leadership in recent months.

On Friday local time, the 62-year-old mercenary leader accused the military of launching a deadly missile strike on his troops and vowed to punish them. He did not provide evidence.

Authorities have denied the strike and demanded he halt his "illegal actions".

Prigozhin said the "evil" in Russia's military leadership must be stopped and vowed to "march for justice".

"Those who killed our lads, and tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers [in the war in Ukraine] will be punished," he said in an audio message posted to the social media platform Telegram.

"I ask you not to resist. Anyone who does will be considered a threat and destroyed. That goes for any checkpoints and aviation on our way.

"Presidential power, the government, the police and Russian guard will work as usual.

"This is not a military coup, but a march of justice. Our actions do not interfere with the troops in any way."

Prigozhin's declared move against the Russian military leadership is "almost certainly an attempted coup", the former US Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor has told the BBC.

"This is serious for Putin. The Russians are taking this very seriously, and it sounds like they should."

But Taylor, who was in Ukraine last month, said the Wagner boss is unlikely to succeed.

"The ministry of defence forces have the equipment, have the aircraft, have the tanks - they have the military equipment in numbers - to put down Prigozhin's forces," he said.

But the Russian infighting could potentially help Ukraine in its fight to defeat Russia's invasion, Taylor said.

"If the Russians are now worried about their chain of command, then the Russians that are supposed to be fighting the Ukrainians may be distracted and may even run."

Putin is receiving round-the-clock updates on the situation, his spokesman said.

The M4 highway has been closed at the border between Lipetsk and Voronezh regions, the Lipetsk governor said.

Earlier he said a Russian military convoy was on the highway.

Security in Moscow was stepped up on Friday night at prime locations in Moscow, including government buildings and transport facilities, Russia's state-owned news agency TASS said.

The governor of Russia's Lipetsk region is also asking residents not to travel south.

Lipetsk is around 280km north-east of the nearest Ukrainian border, and more than 500km north of Rostov.

Writing on Telegram, Igor Artamonov said security measures in the region are being tightened, with a particular focus on protecting critical infrastructure facilities.

In a tweet late on Friday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said simply: "We are watching."

The White House said it was monitoring the situation and would consult with US allies.

Gen Sergei Surovikin, the deputy head of the Russian forces in Ukraine, whose leadership Prigozhin has praised in the past, called on him to "stop the convoys and return them to their bases".

"We are of one blood, we are warriors," he said in a video. "You mustn't play into the enemy's hands at a time that is difficult for our country."

Another senior commander, Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev, described the Wagner chief's actions as "a stab in the back of the country and the president".

Russian state media reported that the FSB, Russia's security services, have opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, accusing him of "calling for an armed rebellion" and attempting to start armed civil conflict in Russia.

The FSB also reportedly called on Wagner fighters to disobey Prigozhin's orders and to take steps to apprehend him.

Russia's defence ministry said in a statement that "all reports by Prigozhin spread on social media" of Russian strikes on Wagner camps were "not true and are an information provocation".

It comes after a video message in May in which Prigozhin stood surrounded by the bodies of his troops and berated Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu - as well as Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov - for not providing them with enough ammunition.

On Friday, he declared that the war in Ukraine had been started "so that Shoigu could become a Marshal".

"The Ministry of Defence is trying to deceive the public, deceive the president and tell a story that there was some crazy aggression by Ukraine, that - together with the whole Nato bloc - Ukraine was planning to attack us," he said.

* This story was first published by the BBC, with updates from the BBC live blog.