As the Russian mercenary offensive pushes from the south, Moscow prepares for war and builds outposts.
Military vehicles and security forces flood Moscow’s streets ahead of the expected arrival of Russia’s Wagner militia forces within hours. Checkpoints are set up at all entrances to the capital and traffic is blocked by communal and emergency vehicles.
Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin told residents to stay home and declared Monday a non-working day for most.
“In order to minimize risks, I, within the framework of the operational headquarters, decided to declare Monday a non-working day,” Sobyanin said on the Telegram website.
Russians barricade the bridge on the outskirts of Moscow with buses and dump trucks pic.twitter.com/CPsH9kZxcI
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 24, 2023
This is how the map of Moscow and the region looks now: all blocked sections of the tracks are marked on it.
He urged residents to refrain from unnecessary travel around the city and told them to report emergency situations to the emergency services hotline (112 in Russia) as quickly as possible.
Russia declared an “anti-terrorist operation regime” in Moscow and the Moscow region, after the chief of the Wagner mercenary group vowed to overthrow Russia’s military leadership and claimed control of a key military headquarters in the south.
The rebel troops passed through the halfway city of Voronezh and reached as far north as Yelets as they advanced on Moscow, seeing negligible resistance.
A message posted on the Wagner Telegram channel on Saturday said: ‘Putin made the wrong choice. All the worse for him. Soon we will have a new president.’