Wagner’s threats, the highway to Moscow is closed

The M4 highway to Moscow has been closed at the border between Lipetsk and Voronezh regions, the Lipetsk governor said.

Earlier, he said that a Russian military convoy was on the highway.

The M4 links Moscow with southern regions, including Rostov and its capital Rostov-on-Don, where armed men were seen, writes the BBC.

This follows a promise by the head of the Wagner mercenary group Prigozhin to overthrow Russia’s military leadership.

The Wagner Group is a paramilitary organization fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

In recent months, Prigozhin has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of Russia’s military leadership.

In an audio message posted on the social media platform Telegram, he said “a large number” of his fighters were killed in a Russian army attack on a Wagner camp, but provided no evidence to back up his claims.

“Those who killed our sons and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers [in the war in Ukraine] will be punished,” Prigozhin said.

“I ask you not to resist. “Anyone who does so will be considered a threat and destroyed,” he added.

“The presidential power, the government, the police and the Russian Guard will work as usual. “This is not a military coup, but a march for justice,” Prigozhin said.

General Sergei Surovikin, deputy chief of Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine, urged him to “stop the convoys and send them back to their bases.”

“We are of the same blood,” he said in a video message. “At a difficult time for our country, we must not play into the hands of the enemy,” Surovikin said.

Russian state media report that the FSB – the country’s security service – has opened criminal proceedings against Prigozhin, accusing him of “calling for armed insurrection” and attempting to start an armed civil war in Russia.

The FSB reportedly told Wagner’s fighters not to obey Prigozhin’s orders and to take action to arrest him.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that all of Prigozhin’s reports circulating on social media about Russian attacks on Wagner’s camps were “not true.”

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, the Kremlin also said that “necessary measures would be taken.”

Meanwhile, news continues to circulate on Twitter that Wagner’s forces are approaching Moscow over Rostov and that everything is on the verge of a military coup in Russia./Gazeta Metro/