As a massive force of armed mercenaries rolled toward Moscow, Russian leader Vladimir Putin tried to rally Russians to support him.
As of early Saturday, a convoy estimated to be 25,000 troops belonging to the Wagner Group, a private mercenary army, was rolling north toward Moscow. Conflicting reports emerged over the convoy’s progress and the extent to which it was moving unopposed.
In a Saturday speech to the nation, Putin called for loyalty against what he called “a criminal adventure.”
“Russia is currently engaged in a fierce struggle for its future, repelling the aggression of neo-Nazis and their master,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks posted to Twitter. The post also included a summary of events that could not be verified.
“This is a stab in the back of our country and our people,” he said, likening the opposition from the Wagner group to efforts to battle against the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in which the tsar was overthrown.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Yevgeny Prigozhin’s military action “represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times,” according to CNN.
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Russian forces had “likely remained passive, acquiescing to Wagner,” a Ministry of Defense briefing said.
“Over the coming hours, the loyalty of Russia’s security forces, and especially the Russian National Guard, will be key to how the crisis plays out,” the report said.
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Writing for the BBC, John Simpson called the action a mutiny, adding, “it’s a mutiny by probably the most effective section of the entire Russian military operation.”
“The Wagner Group, although it’s often made up of people like former prisoners, has been welded together by its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin into a unit that has a very high sense of itself,” he wrote.
“Whereas the Russian forces are often demoralized and mostly don’t want to be there,” he wrote, adding, “They don’t have the kind of spirit that Prigozhin’s forces do.”
“There’s only 25,000 of the Wagner Group, but they may be able to get much further than they have already,” he wrote.
According to a report in The Washington Post, as the Wagner Group marched on Moscow, flights out of Moscow were sold out Saturday, with the next available seats for Russians wanting to flee to Turkey not available until Monday.