Reports are that units of Wagner Group are on the way there from Rostov
Buying mercenaries’ services has always been problematic
Rule 49. Every client is one missed payment away from becoming a target and every target is one bribe away from becoming a client.
Russian elite leaves Moscow on private planes en masse.
Russian oligarchs and politicians are leaving Moscow en masse on private planes, some of which have already landed outside the Russian Federation.
Source: Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories), a Russian website focused on investigative journalism.
Details: For example, Vladimir Putin’s Il96-300PU, which is equipped with army control equipment, flew from Moscow to St Petersburg. The aircraft disappeared from the radar near Tver in Russia.
In addition, the second presidential plane, a Tu-214PU, departed from Moscow to St Petersburg at 14:44, which is also equipped in case of war. It disappeared from the radar over the Russian town of Gatchina.
An aircraft belonging to Denis Manturov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, took off from Moscow at 07:00 and landed in Dalaman, Türkiye at 12:06.
Oligarch Vladimir Potanin’s Gulfstream G650 business jet is expected to take off from Moscow to fly to Istanbul today at 17:00
A Bombardier Global Express XLS belonging to state-owned company Inter RAO [headed by Boris, the son of Putin’s friend Yury Kovalchuk – ed.] took off from Moscow and landed in St Petersburg at around 15:00 (Moscow time).
Ordinary residents of the Russian Federation are unlikely to be able to fly anywhere today, as the prices for air tickets to visa-free countries have skyrocketed. For example, a ticket for a direct flight from Moscow to Yerevan costs up to 200,000 roubles [about US$2,363 – ed.] and to Dubai – up to 350,000 roubles [about US$4,136 – ed.]. There are no tickets left for Istanbul, Astana and Tbilisi.
Background:
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagnerites’ rear camps. Prigozhin claimed that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Rostov, where he personally conducted an operation to wipe out the mercenaries.
According to Prigozhin, 25,000 of his mercenaries are allegedly going to “restore justice”. At the same time, he asked not to call their actions a “military coup”. Prigozhin added that Shoigu had fled Rostov like a coward and “this creature will be stopped”. The Russian Defence Ministry called the information a provocation.