The soldiers led by Prigozhin advance quickly and, after taking the city of Rostov, they approach the capital
The arrest warrant of Evgeny Prigozhin does not seem to have had the desired effect on Putin mercenaries of Wagner who continue the march on Moscow. “We are not traitors, but patriots,” Prigozhin said. “We are 25,000, ready to die and we will not give up,” he says on Telegram. Meanwhile, the Russian city of Rostovabout 1,000km from Moscow, has fallen, and fighting is already taking place around the area of Voronezhalone 500 km from the capital. The government promises to offer amnesty to the Wagner soldiers who will lay down their arms, but in doing so it foreshadows and confirms the incipient civil war. Meanwhile, on the pro-government TV channel Rossija 24, a documentary about Berlusconi.
a powder keg
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Moscow prepares for the attack of the Wagner mercenary group by implementing the “Fortress Floor”. All river traffic on the Moskva River has been put on standby. Armored vehicles circulate through the streets of the city, while police officers with bulletproof vests and machine guns are already positioned at the entrance of the M4 Don, the highway connecting Moscow to Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin decided to make a statement next Monday non-working day to “minimize the risks” And announces checkpoints. Meanwhile, trucks full of sand they are strategically placed at the entrance to the main roads, perhaps in an attempt to block access to the Wagner mutineers. Finally evacuated i museums near the Kremlin, reports the BBC, shopping centers and all public buildings. The analysis of the Russian volunteers of ‘Freedom for Russia’, the pro-Ukrainian legion fighting alongside Kyiv, is that Russia was not minimally prepared for this scenario. “The conflict with Wagner and the surrender of a huge number of territories without a fight show that the Kremlin is absolutely unprepared for internal struggles.” Putin, reads the legion’s Telegram channel, is “ready to kill and plunder people in other countries, to rape civilians in Ukraine”, but has not been able to “protect his own people from the war crimes of his soldiers”.
wagner at the gates of moscow
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Wagner has already taken the city of Rostov and the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, viz main center of logistics of the Russian operation in Ukraine. Could not find train tickets to get out of town. And they are also limited bus services of the Lipetsk region, Moscow and Tula. All outbound flights from Lipetsk have been cancelled. According to the latest verified information, the convoy would have reached the region of Lipetskalone 400km from Moscow, where the emergency plan is already active. The announcement, also on Telegram, came from governor Igor Artamov, who invited citizens “to remain calm”, while however declaring a state of emergency and the start of “security measures”. “Particular attention” he commented, “must be given to key infrastructures”. Traveling south is not recommended, from where the columns of armored cars of the Wagner would be ascending. An advance that precedes incredibly quickly. “All the aims and objectives of the special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian government sources claim, “will be achieved” despite “the attempted armed rebellion”. “Moscow prepares for siege” writes on Telegram Rbc-Ukraine, as reported by Corriere della Sera. “The city is practically armored and isolated from military and police forces, with checkpoints at almost every intersection. They are recalling all the soldiers who had so far remained in the reserves and in the border areas”.
Berlusconi on TV
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On Russian state TV, however, there is a suspended and surreal air. The state channel does not provide any information on the advance of Prigozhin’s militias towards Moscow; on the contrary, while the potential coup is consumed, send a documentary about Silvio Berlusconi is on air. “The Russian state news channel Rossiya 24 is not entirely ignorant of the events, but the fact that it is currently broadcasting a documentary on Silvio Berlusconi speaks volumes,” explains BBC journalist Francis Scarr.
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