Russian President Vladimir Putin promised punitive actions against those who have challenged his authority by questioning the war in Ukraine and occupying a key Russian military headquarters, accusing them of “treason” and “betrayal.”

Putin’s promises come as mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner military group have occupied Rostov-on-Don, Russia, after leaving their position in Ukraine. Prigozhin has sharply criticized the war in Ukraine, and British intelligence indicates that Prigozhin’s men have taken control of Russia’s military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don. 

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

Video shows Prigozhin, accompanied by Wagner troops, in the Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don yelling at Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Yunus-bek B. Yevkurov and Deputy Military Intelligence Director Lt. Gen. Vladimir C. Alekseyev over their handling of the war in Ukraine, according to the New York Times.

A “counterterrorist regime” has been implemented in Moscow in response to the unrest, and Russian authorities have called for Prigozhin’s arrest. 

“We are fighting against anarchy and capitulation. This internal mutiny is a mortal blow to us. It is a blow to our people as a whole,” Putin said. “These people who are responsible will certainly be brought to justice on behalf of our people,”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the unrest revealed Russian weakness. 

“Russia’s weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain, and problems it will have for itself later,” he said. The Wagner Group previously took the important city of Bakhmut from Ukraine after months of severe fighting. 

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Putin referred to the opposition as a “stab in the back,” referencing the hostile relationship between Western nations and Russia. “The entire military, economic, and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin said. 

Prigozhin referred to his move back into Russia as a “march of justice” and not a “military coup.” The mercenary has accused Russia’s military of killing 2,000 Wagner troops, saying his forces in Ukraine were bombed with rockets and artillery. He has since claimed to have shot down a Russian military helicopter.  

“But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said, claiming that he had 25,000 men with him. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

Russia’s lower house of parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said in a statement that the Wagner troops needed to go back to obeying Putin’s orders. 

“Wagner fighters must make the only right choice: to be with their people, on the side of the law, to protect the security and future of the Motherland, to follow the orders of the commander-in-chief,” he said. 

Russian state-controlled media confirmed Saturday morning local time that Wagner paramilitary forces have surrounded the Russian military’s Southern Military District headquarters.

Photographs from TASS said that PMC Wagner fighters and tanks were standing “outside the Southern Military District headquarters” in Rostov-on-Don.

The New York Times later reported that the governor in the region asked residents not to leave their homes and to stay away from the area. He confirmed that the military forces belonged to Wagner.

Wagner forces have made it to the Southern Military District Headquarters in Rostov. pic.twitter.com/BVKmfuWWEm

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 24, 2023

The Wagner PMC Group has announced that they have Captured the Southern Military District Headquarters within the the City of Rostov-on-Don in the Rostov Region of Southwestern Russia. pic.twitter.com/730rL9uetq

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 24, 2023

Another Convoy of Wagner Forces reportedly seen this morning heading towards the City of Rostov-on-Don. pic.twitter.com/vpxpp3XpZo

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 24, 2023

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of Russia’s feared Wagner paramilitary group, announced in a statement Saturday morning that his forces were moving into the Russian city.

“As of now, we’ve crossed the state borders in all areas,” Prigozhin said, according to Newsweek. “Border guards came towards us and hugged our fighters. Now, we’re entering Rostov. Units of the Ministry of Defense, in fact, the conscripts who were thrown to block our path, moved away.”

The rapidly changing situation in the region comes after Prigozhin accused Russia’s Ministry of Defense of attacking and killing his troops that were in Ukraine fighting against Ukrainian forces.

Prigozhin said in a video statement on Friday that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had lied to Russian President Vladimir Putin about what was going on with Ukraine back in February of 2022 in order to stoke Putin into invading the country.

“The war was needed so that a handful of scumbags could have a blast and get PR attention showing how strong the army is,” he said. “The war was needed not in order to return the Russian citizens to our bosom and not in order to ‘demilitarize and denazify Ukraine’.”

Prigozhin shared a message on his personal Telegram channel that accused Russia of launching an attack on his soldiers.

“A missile attack was carried out on a PMC Wagner base,” the message said. “There are many casualties. According to the information of the fighters who are witnesses, the attack was carried out from a rear direction – that is, it was carried out by soldiers of the Russian Ministry of Defense.”

Prigozhin said that he had 25,000 men and they were going to “figure out why chaos is happening in the country.”

“The evil that the military leadership of the country brings forward must be stopped. They have forgotten the word justice, and we will return it,” he said in an audio recording. “Anyone attempting resistance will be considered a threat and immediately destroyed. This includes all the checkpoints on our path and any aircraft above our heads.”

Russia’s notorious Federal Security Service (FSB), which was previously the KGB, responded by issuing an arrest warrant for Prigozhin.

“Prigozhin’s statements and actions are in fact calls for the start of an armed civil conflict on the territory of the Russian Federation and are a stab in the back of Russian servicemen fighting pro-fascist Ukrainian forces,” the FSB said in a statement. “We call on PMC fighters not to make irreparable mistakes, to stop any forceful actions against the Russian people, not to carry out Prigozhin’s criminal and treacherous orders, and to take measures to detain him.”

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev urged Wagner forces to prevent an all out “real civil war” from erupting in the country and to “come back to your senses.”