The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Evgeny Prigojin claimed that the Russian army was attacking fighters with missiles and called on his own fighters and the Russian people to take to the streets. Following his statements targeting administrators of the Russian army and the Kremlin, armored vehicles took to the streets in Moscow, the capital of Russia.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) interpreted Wagner’s founder Evgeny Prigojin’s statements as a coup attempt and said, “Prigojin’s statements and actions are a call to start a civil war in Russia.”

The Wagner group then surrounded the headquarters of the Russian Southern Military District in Rostov-Na-Don. Contacting Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Deputy Chief of General Staff Vladimir Alekseev, Prigojin said, “We want Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and Russian Defense Minister Shoigu here. If they don’t come, we’ll be here. We will blockade the city of Rostov and set out for Moscow,” he said.