Moscow is gearing up for a possible showdown with Wagner Group fighters

Officers stand on the highway on the outskirts of Moscow on June 24, 2023. Associated Press

• Photos show security personnel gathering in Moscow as Wagner Group fighters head toward the city.
• A Russian newspaper posted photos of armed, uniformed men in Moscow's southern region.
• Moscow's mayor said the city was taking anti-terror measures to protect the capital.

Security forces in Moscow began taking positions on Saturday as fighters belonging to Russia's Wagner Group continued their apparent march toward the city.

Vedomosti, a Russian daily newspaper in Moscow, published photos of Russian security forces with automatic rifles standing near a highway in the southern part of the city, according to a translation by CNN.

The photographs show the armed and uniformed men on Lipetskaya Street, which is near the entrance to the highway that connects Moscow with the cities of Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don, according to CNN.

Earlier on Saturday, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his mercenaries took a military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don without firing a single shot. Prigozhin called his mutiny a "march of justice" in a Telegram audio message and claimed to have broad support from the Russian people. A column of his fighters have been moving toward Moscow ever since.

A former ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin has, in recent months, clashed with Russia's top military brass. He now appears to have gone totally rogue in what some are characterizing as a possible coup attempt.

In a speech on Saturday, Putin called Wagner's mutiny a "betrayal." Without naming Prigozhin, Putin said that those behind the mutiny were guilty of "high treason," according to a translation from The Telegraph.

As security forces begin to patrol the southern part of the capital, Russian police and security personnel have also set up vehicle traffic checkpoints in Moscow, according to Reuters. Moscow's mayor announced Saturday that the city would be taking anti-terror measures to protect the capital.

Law enforcement officers at a checkpoint in Moscow. Reuters

Photos from Reuters show traffic police checking cars next to large armored vehicles on the streets of Moscow.

A traffic police officer checks a car next to an armored personnel carrier in Moscow. Reuters