mutiny is el m a serious threat to mutiny is a serious threat to our state, our nation, it is a blow to russia, a blow to our people and our actions to defend the state against this threat will be harsh. this was the scene in rostov earlier this morning where wagner forces apparently surrounded a military building. in a video released by wagner — yevgeny prigozhin is heard telling russian military officials he wants to speak to the defence minister — or they'll move towards moscow. so this is a developing situation — let's take a look at what we know so far — following the dramatic escalation of infighting. prigozhin says his forces have entered russia from ukraine into rostov — and now control the military hq in the city. the governor of rostov has told the public to avoid the area.

there's increased security in moscow — with what's being called anti—terror measures the m4 motorway — which links the russian capital with cities in south, such as rostov ,is closed because of a military convey that is moving along it. the kremlin has called for prigozhin�*s arrest — with top russian generals telling wagner forces to stand down and the russian president vladimir putin has given a tv address and said russia is facing a betrayal. here's mr putin's television address to the russian nation. translation: any actions that split us is a betrayal of your people, - a betrayal of the comrades that are fighting on the front line, a knife in the back of our people. this struck russia in 1917, when russia was waging the first world war, victory was stolen from us. politicking behind the back of the army and the people turned into huge upheaval,

the destruction of the army and the state. the loss of huge territories. as a result, it was tragedy, russian killing russians, civil war. and benefit was derived by various political adventurers, foreign powers that are tearing the country apart. we shall not let this happen again. we will defend our people and our state. including against internal strife and betrayal. and that is what we are facing, betrayal. and when personal ambitions takeover, overfaith in your own people and the cause for which the soldiers

of the wagner group are fighting shoulder to shoulder, those who liberated villages, they fought and gave their lives for new russia. this is a betrayal by those who are pushing the country to anarchy and fratricide. ultimately defeat and keep alienation. i shall repeat, any internal mutiny is a serious threat to our state, our nation, it is a blow to russia, a blow to our people and our actions to defend the state against this threat will be harsh. those who consciously chose treason, blackmail and terrorist methods will be inevitably punished. they will answer before the law and before our people.

the armed forces and other state authorities have received necessary orders, additional measures of anti—terrorist nature are now enforced in moscow and other regions. action will be taken to stabilise the situation in rostov—on—don, it remains difficult, in fact, the government and military administrations have been blocked. as the president of russia and the supreme commander and chief, as a citizen is russia, i shall do everything to defend the country, to defend the constitutional system, life and security and the freedom of people, those who organised and prepared the armed mutiny, those who took up arms against their comrades have betrayed russia and will answer for it. that was vladimir putin addressing

the nation early this morning. these pictures released form the wagner military group purport to show ngeny prigozhin with armed men in rostov. wagner say these pictures are taken at the southern military district headquarters in rostov and that he is arguing with deputy defence minister yunus—bek yevkurov and general vladimir alexeyev. the bbc is unable to verify the location of these pictures. our reporter nicky schiller is in the newsroom monitoring developments. just bring it up—to—date with what has happened so far this morning. i'm going to bring you up—to—date with some of the international reaction that has been coming in. within the last half an hour or so we've had a very brief statement from the nato military alliance which says they are monitoring the situation, as you would imagine. that is the message from a lot of european capitals, monitoring the situation coming out of france and germany. the german also there

advising any of their citizens who are in russia to avoid roles and at the centre of moscow. one of the latest statements come from the italian prime minister, she is closely following events in russia, she said that the assault on ukraine is causing instability within russia. a couple of countries do have borders that go on to moscow and into russia. one of the first ones, estonia, we've had a statement from the estonian prime minister. she has strengthened security on their russian border and is urging people not to travel to any part of russia that the estonian prime minister. whilst the polish president has said that in connection with the situation in russia this morning, he held consultations with the prime minister and the ministry of defence, as well as with allies. president duda tweeting that the course of events beyond that eastern

bodies being monitored on an ongoing basis. a little earlier, we had a quite a detailed statement from the uk ministry of defence in what they called an intelligence update. they said that the feud between the wagner group and the ministry of defence in russia had escalated to what they called outright military confrontation. as we've been hearing, they confirmed from their sources that wagner forces crossed from occupied ukraine into russia in at least two places. rostov one of them, as we've mentioned. they also say that further wagner groups are heading north to get to moscow. they say there has been very limp limited evidence of fighting between business groups and the russian military. they say that overall, the coming hours, what will be key is the loyalty of russian security forces, especially the russian national guard. that is the latest from the uk ministry of defence. thank you. let's speak to sergey markov

who is a former political advisor to vladimir putin. thank you so much forjoining us. i'm interested for your reaction to what is happening inside your country at the moment. at what is happening inside your country at the moment. of course, it's very negative — country at the moment. of course, it's very negative reaction. - country at the moment. of course, it's very negative reaction. in - it's very negative reaction. in fact, one of the most efficient parts of the russian army which is this private military group. i would say that most of the officers in the russian army support progozhin and the wagner group. of course, there is much disagreement with him when he opened the appraisal against the defence ministry. progozhin says

that no one votes against vladimir putin. the military report is that the situation is very dangerous. wagner control something from about ten to 20,000 soldiers. most of them now are in rostov city, a very big city with more than i million inhabitants. i've been there many times. we know also that the wagner group is very professional in fighting which we know from the case in back boot. to fight against 20,000 mostly professional soldiers of wagner in rostov, the russian army need to take from the ukrainian front, something like more than

50,000 soldiers. this will create a big opportunity for the ukrainian army to go forward and crush the russian front. it is not the solution. the ukrainians will use another solution. the statement from president putin appealed to soldiers from the wagner group and president putin told him you are for russia, you are not for progozhin. the sensors like this, you are not for progozhin, you are richer. this is absolutely impossible what you are doing. stop doing this. now this is a very dangerous situation. we need to protect the state of our russian

country. i think now it will be peaceful negotiations between the kremlin and progozhin. we know that progozhin took control but to the military headquarter of all ukrainian military operations. he took control over this building, this military headquarter. but he didn't create a problem for them, he had a negotiations with the defence minister. i know him very well from the time when he... minister. i know him very well from the time when he. . ._ minister. i know him very well from the time when he... progozhin says this isn't a — the time when he... progozhin says this isn't a challenge _ the time when he... progozhin says this isn't a challenge to _ the time when he. .. progozhin says this isn't a challenge to vladimir- this isn't a challenge to vladimir putin, but if this is a challenge to

the armed forces, it is intrinsically a challenge to vladimir putin. vladimir putin has beenin vladimir putin. vladimir putin has been in powerfor 23 years in russia, is this the beginning of his and? w russia, is this the beginning of his and? ., ., �* ~' russia, is this the beginning of his and? ., ., �* ~ ~ russia, is this the beginning of his and? ., ., �* ~' ~ ., and? no, i don't think so. we now have great — and? no, i don't think so. we now have great waves _ and? no, i don't think so. we now have great waves of _ and? no, i don't think so. we now have great waves of political - and? no, i don't think so. we now| have great waves of political abuse from every russian politician being asked, but they always answer that they support vladimir putin. putin's popularity is now more than 80%. 0f popularity is now more than 80%. of course, there is a lot of criticism, most of the russian society criticised vladimir putin for the two moderate war on ukraine. most of the people demand more and the killing of ukrainian terrorist

regimes. this is the main point of criticism for vladimir putin. nevertheless, he has supporters. more than 80% of the population supporting. more than 80% of the population su ”ortin. ., ~ more than 80% of the population su ”ortin. . ~ ,, more than 80% of the population su ortin:. ., ~' ,, ., more than 80% of the population su ort:in. ., ~ ,, ., ., more than 80% of the population su--ortin:. ., ~ ., ., , supporting. thank you for “oining us live from moscow. h to explain more — on who the wagner group is — and their leader — here's our analysis editor ros atkins. the wagner group has fought in some of the war�*s fiercest battles, including bakhmut, and it's lost many men. this is prigozhin laying flowers at his fighters' graves earlier this year. the us estimates that around 10,000 wagnerfighters have died in ukraine since december and the majority of those men were russian convicts. here's prigozhin at a prison last september. he is telling these men their sentences will be quashed if they fight for wagner. many of them went to war and as wagner's death toll has

spiralled, prigozhin�*s relationship with the russian defence ministry had deteriorated. he's posted furious rants on the messaging app telegram and in early may, surrounded by corpses of his fighters, he took aim again. shoigu is russia's defence minister. gerasimov is the head of the armed forces. and prigozhin has a reputation for this kind of furious outburst and also brutality, for example this was his reaction when in november, a wagner defector was allegedly killed with a sledgehammer. yevgeny prigozhin said a dog meets a dog's death. he did not condemn it. he then began to use the image of a sledgehammer as a trophy image. and prigozhin�*s lawlessness is nothing new.

in 1981 he was sent to prison for robbery and theft. when released in 1990, he became a hot dog salesman in saint petersburg, but by 1997, he was running a top restaurant and began winning lucrative catering contracts. these brought connections to the very top. prigozhin catered for state visits and personally served world leaders including us president george w bush in 2006, or here's putin being shown round prigozhin�*s school lunch factory in 2010, or being served by prigozhin a year later. and in time, yevgeny prigozhin�*s role would become about far more than food. he had his shift here from hot dog seller, to restaurateur, to caterer to the army, massive contract, and at some point he then moved closer to the armed forces. that point was explicitly reached in early 2014. russia invaded and annexed the crimean peninsula in ukraine. it also launched an insurgency

to occupied parts of eastern ukraine and prigozhin was involved. he told us as much last year, saying... that statement was important. before then, prigozhin had always denied any connection with wagner. in fact though, as one think tank documented... and what started in ukraine soon reached far beyond it. these are wagner fighters in syria supporting pro—government forces, as russia's military was doing too. there are also multiple reports of wagner activity in africa, including libya, mali, the central african republic, sudan, mozambique, and madagascar, and its activities are varied. wagner has all types of activities they engage in in sub—saharan africa, especially that's security,

weapons provision, training, natural resource extraction. they kind of run the gamut. this is all highly lucrative, for example politico reports that... these activities are not just lucrative, the eu accuses wagner of... if that's the eu, this is the us. they threaten stability, they undermine good governance, they rob countries of mineral wealth, they violate human rights. and antony blinken directly connects this to prigozhin. we have seen disinformation campaigns that are furthering the exploitative goals that wagner and its founder have quite literally crossed the continent of africa. and these disinformation campaigns are possible because prigozhin has an online operation too. it is best known for meddling in

the 2016 us presidential election. hundreds of young people who are acting as trolls, taking on fake personas, going on to the internet, influencing the election process, particularly in the united states, and yevgeny prigozhin has admitted this. and one crucial question in all of this is whether there is any dividing line at all between prigozhin and the russian state. in 2020, a joint investigation by bellingcat, the insider and der spiegel concluded that... there are other documented links between wagner and russian intelligence. for example, multiple reports show how they shared a base in molkino in southern russia. vladimir putin's never addressed the connection between wagner and the russian state but we know that prigozhin's operations around the world allow putin to exert influence at arm's length.

you're watching bbc news, we are bringing you the latest on the situation in pressure. —— in russia. in the last few minutes, the prime minister rishi sunak has been asked about the situation in russia. he's been talking to the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg. do you think this might be a coup against vladimir putin? tote do you think this might be a coup against vladimir putin?— do you think this might be a coup against vladimir putin? we have been monitorin: against vladimir putin? we have been monitoring for— against vladimir putin? we have been monitoring for a _ against vladimir putin? we have been monitoring for a while _ against vladimir putin? we have been monitoring for a while the _ against vladimir putin? we have been monitoring for a while the potential i monitoring for a while the potential impacts and we are keeping a close eye on the situation as it is evolving on the ground and we are in touch with our allies and there will be speaking to some later today, but the most important thing is for all parties to be responsible and protect civilians and that is about as much as i can say at this moment. the ministry of defence said online this morning this is a most significant threat to the russian state in recent times. is that right? state in recent times. is that ri:ht? ., ., , . ., right? how do you see it? we have been monitoring _ right? how do you see it? we have been monitoring for— right? how do you see it? we have been monitoring for a _ right? how do you see it? we have been monitoring for a while - right? how do you see it? we have been monitoring for a while further the situation in ukraine to be

destabilising and we are keeping a close eye on that as the situation evolves. i will be speaking to some of them later today and the most important thing is for all parties to behave responsibly and to protect civilian lives.— civilian lives. when people look at this, is it good — civilian lives. when people look at this, is it good news _ civilian lives. when people look at this, is it good news or— civilian lives. when people look at this, is it good news or bad - civilian lives. when people look at this, is it good news or bad newsl this, is it good news or bad news that vladimir putin is being challenged? it that vladimir putin is being challenged?— that vladimir putin is being challenged? it is an evolving situation and _ challenged? it is an evolving situation and i _ challenged? it is an evolving situation and i think - challenged? it is an evolving situation and i think the - challenged? it is an evolving | situation and i think the right thing at thisjuncture situation and i think the right thing at this juncture is to make sure we are on top of it, in touch with our allies which we are and i will be speaking to them later today and that we call on all parties to exercise responsibility and to protect civilian lives and that is the most important thing for us in the most important thing for us in the uk to be doing at this juncture. have you heard from president zelensky? figs have you heard from president zelens ? �* , ., ., . zelensky? as i said, i am in touch with our allies _ zelensky? as i said, i am in touch with our allies and _ zelensky? as i said, i am in touch with our allies and will _ zelensky? as i said, i am in touch with our allies and will speak- zelensky? as i said, i am in touch with our allies and will speak to l with our allies and will speak to some of them later today, as you would expect us to be coordinated on a situation like this but it is evolving as we speak.- a situation like this but it is evolving as we speak. last question, if there are — evolving as we speak. last question, if there are british _ evolving as we speak. last question, if there are british citizens _ evolving as we speak. last question, if there are british citizens remain i if there are british citizens remain in moscow russia for example, we know a lot of people obviously have left, but do you have advice for british citizens in russia at the moment? ~ .,

british citizens in russia at the moment? ~ . ., ., , ., moment? we have had long-standing travel advice — moment? we have had long-standing travel advice against _ moment? we have had long-standing travel advice against travel _ moment? we have had long-standing travel advice against travel to - travel advice against travel to russia. that is on the foreign office website, people should regularly check that, but we have had long—standing advice advising against travel to russia for the obvious reasons, but people should keep checking the foreign office website for updates. ok. keep checking the foreign office website for updates.— keep checking the foreign office website for updates. ok. you can see that interview — website for updates. ok. you can see that interview in _ website for updates. ok. you can see that interview in full _ website for updates. ok. you can see that interview in full tomorrow - website for updates. ok. you can see that interview in full tomorrow on - that interview in full tomorrow on sunday with laura kuenssberg. let's bring in the bbc�*s paul moss. paul, you've been looking at why this standoff has happened now. yes, we know tensions have been building between the wagner group and the official russian military for some time, but things did seem to be coming to a head two weeks ago. on that day, the russian defence ministry clearly felt it was time to bring the wagner group to heal and they announced anyone fighting in ukraine for russia had to be signed up by a contract to the defence ministry, in other words all of you will come under the official defence ministry. mr prigozhin rejected that immediately and said

to sign any contract like that would be a part of shame, but then things got interesting three days later, because vladimir putin was asked what he thought about the idea that wagner and other groups would have to sign up to a defence ministry contract and vladimir putin said yes, he thought that was a good idea. that is the first time we have seen a direct confrontation effectively between what yevgeny prigozhin wants and what the president of russia vladimir putin once and they defence ministry said that you have untiljuly the 1st to sign one of these contracts, setting themselves up for a crunch time. we were speculating only yesterday what would happen if for example russian troops tried to arrest wagner troops were fighting illegally or anything like that. things are clearly moving towards a head and now it seems they have jumped the gun towards a head and now it seems they havejumped the gun on one towards a head and now it seems they have jumped the gun on one side towards a head and now it seems they havejumped the gun on one side or the other one week ahead of that by this move by the wagner group taking overin this move by the wagner group taking over in rostov and apparently perhaps moving in on other parts of

russia. . ~' , ., perhaps moving in on other parts of russia. ., ~ , ., , ., ., russia. thank you. i “ust want to brin: russia. thank you. i “ust want to bring viewers h russia. thank you. i “ust want to bring viewers up _ russia. thank you. i “ust want to bring viewers up to _ russia. thank you. i just want to bring viewers up to date - russia. thank you. i just want to bring viewers up to date on - russia. thank you. i just want to bring viewers up to date on the l bring viewers up to date on the latest in ukraine. kee abbott says three people were killed and 11 injured in a russian barrage. —— kyiv says. let's speak to sir laurie bristow, who was the uk ambassador to russia from 2016 to 2020. thank you forjoining us. what is your take on the events as you see them? ,., ., your take on the events as you see them? , ., ., ., , them? good morning. first, with re:ards them? good morning. first, with regards to _ them? good morning. first, with regards to what _ them? good morning. first, with regards to what is _ them? good morning. first, with regards to what is happening - them? good morning. first, with| regards to what is happening with the wagner group itself, i think the way to understand wagner and its relations with the kremlin is it has been for some years essentially symbiotic, so the kremlin and wagner group working together to essentially do the kremlin's dirty work for them around the world. in recent weeks and months, i think that relationship is starting to go very badly wrong. first, around the conduct of the war in ukraine under the control of the resources to do that and the power that they bring,

but in the last day of cause and with prigozhin now pretty openly challenging the very basis of the war itself, so that challenges put in terms of criticising defence minister shoigu and chief of general staff gerasimov for the war. but this is mr putin's war and there is no escaping from the fact that what prigozhin essentially is doing is criticising both the decision to go to war and the conduct of the war. on that basis, on the basis that so much of this is on president putin's shoulders, he did not lead the troops but he sent them into ukraine, do you think that this will ultimately be his undoing? it is too earl to ultimately be his undoing? it is too early to predict _ ultimately be his undoing? it is too early to predict how _ ultimately be his undoing? it is too early to predict how this _ ultimately be his undoing? it is too early to predict how this ends, - ultimately be his undoing? it is too early to predict how this ends, but| early to predict how this ends, but i think what we can do at this stage is out a couple of really key facts here. what is it is the strategic failures that mr putin's war has suffered in ukraine. this war i think still has a way to go, it is a very dangerous situation. there are

still people being killed in a kyiv overnight, the battle is raging in ukraine itself, but the bottom line is that this war has not gone putin's way and it has not gone from the very start. what we are now beginning see i think is very clear signs of a leadership that itself is in trouble. i do not know where this leads, there may be some way for this to go yet, but what we are seeing is the consequences of the weight mr putin has set up and run at the russian state for over two decades. this is putin's war, the way the russian state is built and operated, that is on mr putin. one final point here, we are going into an election year next year in russia, 2024 is the next presidential election in russia. because, in russia, it is not a elections are not about asking the voters to choose a leader, it is about asking the voters and the leaders to validate peter's decision

to stay on whether to hand over to a potential successor. to stay on whether to hand over to a potentialsuccessor. —— to stay on whether to hand over to a potential successor. —— putin's decision to stay on. and now this war considerably compared that process on the time comes. tote war considerably compared that process on the time comes. we are runnin: a process on the time comes. we are running a little _ process on the time comes. we are running a little short _ process on the time comes. we are running a little short of— process on the time comes. we are running a little short of time - process on the time comes. we are running a little short of time here l running a little short of time here on bbc news, how do you think ukraine, the west, leverages this fracturing of unity in russia at the moment? i fracturing of unity in russia at the moment? ~ . fracturing of unity in russia at the moment? ~ , ., , moment? i think it is a little bit too early to _ moment? i think it is a little bit too early to say _ moment? i think it is a little bit too early to say what _ moment? i think it is a little bit too early to say what impact - moment? i think it is a little bit too early to say what impact it | moment? i think it is a little bit i too early to say what impact it will have on the wall, fiscally rostov is both a major logistics hub for the russian army also a major command centre. —— obviously rostov. there may be an issue of morale coming into play, but it is political cohesion. into play, but it is political cohesion-— into play, but it is political cohesion. ., ~ . into play, but it is political cohesion. ., . g , ., cohesion. thank you so much. just a reminder that _ cohesion. thank you so much. just a reminder that you _ cohesion. thank you so much. just a reminder that you cannot _ cohesion. thank you so much. just a reminder that you cannot follow - cohesion. thank you so much. just a reminder that you cannot follow the | reminder that you cannot follow the events on the live page on the boots on his website and also on the app. you can download that on your

smartphone and tablet. —— on the bbc news website. we will bring you the latest as we get them here. do stay with us. we did not see a first day over 25 celsius until the very end of may but we made up for it thisjune. take a look at heathrow and aviemore where in london heathrow there has been 14 days so far thisjune. the record is 17. aviemore, we have already got above the previous record of seven by two days and there's still the chance of both those figures to go higher this weekend as we draw in the humid airfrom the south ahead of fresher conditions behind these weather fronts which will bring a change through sunday. through today, still a bit of cloud, low cloud around western coast of wales. a few sharp showers in northern scotland, isolated ones elsewhere.

most drier, sunny spells are looking good for the prospect at lord's, queens and glastonbury but is pretty hot and humid, 25 to 29, 30 degrees quite widely set against an average of what should be 17 to 21 degrees. daytime averages, they will be close to that tonight across the country. temperatures not dropping much lower than around 15 to 17 degrees across most parts of the uk. a very humid and uncomfortable night and start to sunday. there and start to sunday. is a change on the way. the fresher there is a change on the way. the fresher atlantic air starts to put in. thundery downpours in northern ireland through the morning, into western fringes. a few isolated thunderstorms before that arrives and still heavy showers in northern ireland but for the far south of england and wales, the chance of a shower is only a very small one. most places will stay dry, very hot and humid towards the south and east. 31, 32 celsius, much 31, 32 celsius, much more comfortable west of more comfortable west of

scotland and northern ireland scotland and northern ireland at 17, 18 degrees. at 17, 18 degrees. that more comfortable and will push that more comfortable and will push into monday. into monday. a few showers bring a few showers bring across scotland through the day, across scotland through the day, some heavy thundery and persistent some heavy thundery and persistent rain to the west of rain to the west of northern ireland later on. northern ireland later on. isolated shower and isolated shower and some turning hazy for some turning hazy for england and wales during monday england and wales during monday afternoon but temperatures close to afternoon but temperatures close to where they should be where they should be for the stage injune. for the stage injune. 17 to 23 degrees. 17 to 23 degrees. they will be the same set of values we see through the rest people and our actions to defend the of this coming week, may be dropping a touch on some wetter spots. always drier and a bit warmer further south you are. live from london. this is bbc news. tanks are seen on the streets of rostov—on—don as president putin says russia is in the midst of an armed mutiny. translation: an internal mutiny is a serious threat | to our state, our nation, it

is a blow to russia, a blow to our