Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called an armed mutiny after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday he had taken control of a southern city as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership.
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 Defense 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 airstrike, something the defense ministry denied.
Prigozhin's Wagner militia spearheaded the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, and he 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 invading 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.
"The war wasn't needed to demilitarize or denazify Ukraine," he said, referring to Putin's justifications for the war.
In one of many overnight frenzied audio messages, he had then made clear that he was moving against the army.
"Those who destroyed our lads, who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished. I ask that no one offer resistance...," he said.
"There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country," he said, promising to destroy any checkpoints or air forces that got in Wagner's way. He later said his men had been involved in clashes with regular soldiers and had shot down a helicopter.
