Russia's anti-terrorist committee said on Saturday that it was beginning a counter-terrorist operation in Moscow and the surrounding region, hours after the leader of the Wagner private military group led what Russia called a mutiny against the Moscow defense establishment.

The mayor of Russia's capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said earlier on Saturday that "anti-terrorist measures" were being carried out in the city while Governor of southern Russia's Rostov region, an area adjoining Ukraine, Vassily Golubev also told residents to remain calm and stay indoors.

'All the way'

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, 62, announced earlier that his Wagner fighters had crossed the border into Russia's Rostov from Ukraine and were prepared to go "all the way" against Moscow's military. "All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message. 

"We are dying for the Russian people." 

The Wagner Group is a private army of mercenaries that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine. First identified in 2014, the group has backed pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and has grown considerably since. According to the U.S. National Council, about 80 percent of Wagner's troops in Ukraine have been drawn from prisons.

Prigozhin earlier said, without providing evidence, that Russia's military leadership had killed a huge number of his troops in an air strike and vowed to punish them.

He said his actions were not a military coup, and that he wouldn't impede Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine. But in a frenzied series of audio messages, in which the sound of his voice sometimes varied and could not be independently verified, he appeared to suggest that his 25,000-strong militia was en route to oust the leadership of the Defense Ministry in Moscow.

As a long-running standoff between Prigozhin and the country's military top brass appeared to come to a head, Russia's FSB security service opened a criminal case against him, according to TASS news agency. It called on Wagner forces to ignore his orders and arrest him.

Videos and pictures posted online, including by TASS, showed armed men surrounding administrative buildings in Rostov and tanks deployed in the city center. It was not clear who the armed men were.

In Moscow, critical facilities were "under reinforced protection," TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was getting around-the-clock updates, TASS said.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied Prigozhin's claims of an attack on his forces, saying the statements "do not correspond to reality." It later said Ukrainian troops were taking advantage of the infighting to ready an assault near the east Ukraine hotspot of Bakhmut.

"I urge you to stop," Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russia's aerospace forces, said in a video address.

International reaction

A senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, on Saturday described the events as a "counter-terrorist operation" and said that "everything is just beginning in Russia." 

"The split between the elites is too obvious. Agreeing and pretending that everything is settled won't work," Podolyak tweeted.

The White House said the U.S. was monitoring the situation. The administration will be consulting with allies and partners on developments, said National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge on Friday.

Beijing urged efforts from the international community to keep the situation from getting out of control. 

In an open meeting on Ukraine held by the United Nations Security Council, Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang called on Ukraine and Russia to remain "calm and restraint" and "stay away from nuclear war."

(With input from Reuters, AFP)

(Cover: A view of the empty Red Square in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2023. /CFP)