Moment senior Russian general tells Wagner’s mercenaries to obey Putin while gripping his gun

This is the chilling moment a senior Russian general told Wagner’s mercenaries to obey Putin and return to their bases – while sternly gripping his gun. 

Sergei Surovikin, referred to as the most ‘Wagner-friendly’ general, called on the group not to obey Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s orders against the president. 

In a video posted on Twitter, he said: ‘The enemy is only waiting for our domestic political situation to get inflamed. 

‘Don’t play into the enemy’s hands in this difficult time for the country!’

All the while Surovikin was sat down and clutching onto his gun, which he gripped sternly with his right hand. 

It comes as Prigozhin declared on Friday that his 25,000-strong force is marching into Rostov-on-Don, and is ‘unopposed’.  

In a video posted on Twitter, he said: ‘The enemy is only waiting for our domestic political situation to get inflamed. Don’t play into the enemy’s hands in this difficult time for the country!’

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video released in the early hours of Saturday that his forces have reached the strategically important city of Rostov-on-Don

He made the move in fury at what he said was Moscow’s attack on his men, adding that he intends to march to Moscow to take on defense chiefs. 

Russian president Vladimir Putin today branded Prigozhin’s military coup ‘treason’ as he addressed the Russian people, saying the military leader has ‘stabbed him in the back’. 

Prigozhin and his feared 25,000-strong Wagner militia have reportedly control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, saying they are ‘ready to die’ as they vow revenge for a military strike from Putin’s forces that the mercenary leader says killed some of his men. 

All public events have been cancelled in the Russian capital as Vladimir Putin took to TV to say some Russians have been ‘tricked into a criminal adventure’ in a bid to affirm his shaky grip on power. 

Putin described the group’s actions as a ‘criminal adventuristic campaign’ that is ‘equivalent to armed mutiny’, and urged those involved to cease any armed action, as the unit’s HQ in St Petersburg was reportedly raided today.