Security has been heightened in Moscow and the key strategic city of Rostov-on-Don after the owner of a private military contractor stepped up his direct challenge to the Kremlin.
Yevgeny Progozhin, who owns the private Wagner force, said his forces have reached Rostov – the southern base for Russia’s military.
The security services reacted immediately by opening a criminal investigation into him.
Mr Progozhin, who has called for an armed rebellion to oust Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, said his forces faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints.
“We will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” said Mr Progozhin in one of several angry video and audio posts on social media on Friday. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.
“This is not a military coup but a march of justice.
“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,”
Accusing Mr Shoigu of ordering a rocket strike on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine he urged the army not to offer resistance.
He claimed that the chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, scrambled warplanes to strike Wagner’s convoys which were driving alongside ordinary vehicles.
There has been no independent confirmation of Mr Prigozhin’s claim his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, nor any confirmation on Russian social networks that Wagner convoys had entered Rostov-on-Don.
Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city of Bakhmut where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place.
But Mr Prigozhin has increasingly criticised Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services (FSB), charged him with calling for an armed rebellion, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The FSB urged Wagner’s contract soldiers to arrest Mr Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders”. It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting armed conflict.
The Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut.
But Mr Prigozhin has increasingly criticised Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition.
Mr Prigozhin, who said he had 25,000 troops under his command, said his troops would punish Mr Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”
President Vladimir Putin was informed about the situation and “all the necessary measures were being taken,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Heavy military trucks and armoured vehicles were seen in several parts of central Moscow early on Saturday and soldiers carrying assault rifles were deployed outside the main building of the Defence Ministry.
The area around the presidential administration near Red Square was blocked, snarling traffic.
Moscow’s mayor announced on Saturday morning that counterterrorism measures were underway, including increased control of roads and possible restrictions on mass gatherings.
Mr Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defence Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that military contractors sign contracts with the ministry before July 1.
At the White House, National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”
