Russia’s Putin calls Wagner rebellion ‘a stab in the back’

President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday to punish the organizers of an armed rebellion in Russia involving mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday to punish the organizers of an armed rebellion in Russia after Wagner Group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led his troops out of Ukraine and into a key southern city.

Putin denounced the uprising as “a stab in the back.” It was the biggest threat to his leadership in over two decades in power.

The private army led by Prigozhin appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow that runs Russian offensive operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.

As the fast-moving events unfolded in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow is suffering “full-scale weakness” and that Kyiv was protecting Europe from “the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”

In his address, Putin called the actions by Prigozhin, whom he did not mention by name, a “betrayal” and “treason.”

“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”

Prigozhin said his fighters would not surrender, as “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”

“Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland,” he said in an audio message on his Telegram channel.