Putin: I'll crush back-stabbing Wagner mutineers
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called an armed mutiny after rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday he had taken control of a southern city as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership. The dramatic turn, with many details unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale attack on Ukraine - which he called a "special military operation" – in February last year. In a televised address, Putin said that "excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason", and called the mutiny a "stab in the back". "It is a blow to Russia, to our people. And our actions to defend the Fatherland against such a threat will be harsh." "All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people," Putin said. Prigozhin had demanded that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, whom he has pledged to oust over what he says is their disastrous leadership of the war against Ukraine, come to see him in Rostov, a city near the Ukrainian border that he said he had seized control of. He had said he had 25,000 fighters who would "restore justice" and had alleged, without providing evidence, that the military had killed a huge number of fighters from his Wagner private militia in an air strike, something the defence ministry denied. Prigozhin's Wagner militia spearheaded the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, and he has has for months been openly accusing Shoigu and Gerasimov of incompetence and of denying Wagner ammunition and support. On Friday, he had appeared to cross a new line in the feud, saying that Putin's stated rationale for attacking Ukraine 16 months ago was based on lies concocted by the army's top brass. "The war was needed ... so that Shoigu could become a marshal ... so that he could get a second 'Hero' [of Russia] medal," Prigozhin said in a video clip. (Reuters)