RUSSIA COUP: Putin Allegedly Flees Moscow Amid Wagner Militia’s Threat
The whereabouts of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday, was thrown into question after an aircraft belonging to the presidency was spotted flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, according to Flight Radar.
According to numerous reports, Vladimir Putin’s presidential plane took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport at 2:16pm local time (1216 BST) and then headed north-west.
Data from the Flight Radar tracking website showed the plane reached the Tver area – about 110 miles from Moscow and where Putin has a residence – before disappearing from the system.
However, Dmitry Peskov, his spokesperson, denied Putin has fled the capital and told reporters the president “is working at the Kremlin.”
Recall that Wagner’s armed rebellion is racing towards Moscow after the mercenary group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin took control of the military headquarters in Russian cities Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don.
Prigozhin has said his forces have been attacked by artillery and helicopters since he launched his mutiny.
Putin however said an “armed mutiny” by Yevgeny Prigozhin was treason and a “mortal blow” to Russia’s troops.
Wagner’s armed rebellion is racing towards Moscow after the mercenary group’s leader, Prigozhin took control of the military headquarters in Russian cities Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don.
Prigozhin has said his forces have been attacked by artillery and helicopters since he launched his mutiny.
Putin said an “armed mutiny” by Yevgeny Prigozhin was treason and a “mortal blow” to Russia’s troops.
Meanwhile, mercenary fighters barrelled towards Moscow on Saturday after seizing a southern city overnight, with Russia’s military firing on them from the air but seemingly incapable of slowing their lightning advance.
The fighters of the Wagner private army run by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin were already most of the way to the capital, having captured the city of Rostov and set off on an 1,100 km (680 mile) race to Moscow.
Reuters saw troop carriers and a flatbed truck carrying a tank careening past the city of Voronezh more than half way to Moscow, where a helicopter fired on them. But there were no reports of the rebels meeting any substantial resistance on the highway.
Russian media showed pictures of small groups of police manning machine gun positions on Moscow’s southern outskirt. Authorities in the Lipetsk region south of the capital told residents to stay home.
Prigozhin says his men are on a “march for justice” to remove corrupt and incompetent commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.
In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin said Russia’s very existence was under threat.
“We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history,” he said.
“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.”
Defiant Prigozhin swiftly replied that he and his men had no intention of turning themselves in.
“The president makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our motherland, we fought and are fighting for it.
“We don’t want the country to continue to live in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy,” Prigozhin said in an audio message.
Prigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with the top brass, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District in Rostov without firing a shot.
