Russian crisis LIVE: Putin accuses Prigozhin of a ‘stab in the back’ as Wagner group sweep in to Rostov-on-Don, military on streets of Moscow, ‘has look of military coup’
This is MailOnline’s live blog for the Russian crisis as the Wagner militia has ‘seized Rostov-on-Don’. Follow all the latest updates here:
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Wagner seize control of Russian military HQ in Rostov-on-Don after commanding officer FLED when mercenaries arrived
Moscow is in lockdown amid growing fears of a military coup as Yvegney Prigozhin and his feared 25,000-strong Wagner militia take control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, saying they are ‘ready to die’ as they vow revenge for a military strike from Putin’s forces that the mercenary leader says killed some of his men.
All public events have been cancelled in the Russian capital as Vladimir Putin prepares to take to TV in a bid to affirm his increasingly shaky grip on power.
Prigozhin issued a new message at about 7.30am Saturday Moscow time saying his men have infiltrated the Southern Defense Command in Rostov-on-Don and that the city’s airfield was under his control.
Residents have been told to stay in their homes by government officials, but some were seen out observing what was happening, even live-streaming the action on their cell phones.
Steve Fish, professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, told the BBC World Service early on Saturday that ‘this has the look of a military coup’.
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