In a message posted to Telegram on Saturday morning, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that all the members of his Wagner group of mercenaries were "ready to die" in his action against the Russian military.
"All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000," he said in an audio message, adding the action was being taken "for the Russian people".
The Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has said he’ll move on from Rostov-on-Don, the Russian city that he now claims to control, to Moscow.
Security will be tightened significantly around the Russian capital, and further afield, to make sure Wagner fighters cannot reach the capital.
Already this morning we’ve heard that an “anti-terrorist regime” has been introduced in the Moscow region. The Russian authorities are clearly trying to do all they can to contain this.
It’s a very difficult situation for Moscow. The fact that the head of the Wagner Group, with his fighters, has said his troops have taken over the major Russian city Rostov is a huge embarrassment to President Putin.
Russian president Vladimir Putin vows to do "everything" to defend the country against armed mutiny from Wagner mercenary group.