Rebel mercenaries advanced north towards Moscow after seizing a key military base Saturday, just as Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin's vowed to defeat the revolt and head off the threat of civil war. | ManilaBulletin
The rapidly escalating events mark the most serious challenge yet to the Russian president's rule -- and Russia's most serious security crisis since the strongman came to power in late 1999.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, once a close Putin ally, said his troops had taken control of the military command centre and airbase in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the nerve centre of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, and vowed to topple Moscow's top military leaders. "Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason," Putin said, referring to Prigozhin, who built his powerbase as a catering contractor to the Kremlin and now runs a private military force.
"Defence ministry and National Guard fighters of the Chechen Republic have already left for the zones of tension," Kadyrov said on Telegram.Belarus also backed Moscow in the conflict. "On treason of the motherland: the president is deeply wrong. We are patriots of our motherland," Prigozhin said. "Nobody plans to turn themselves in at the request of the president, the FSB or anyone else."Watching events unfold in Russia as his own forces conduct a slow-moving counteroffensive, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the revolt showed Russia's was failing.
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