Life in Moscow continued with an air of studied calm even as Yevgeny Prigozhin,the pugnacious head of the Wagner mercenary group,seized control of a key military headquarters in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and began dispatching convoys of troops and armoured vehicles towards the capital before standing down. President Vladimir Putin continued to work in the Kremlin,his spokesperson,Dmitri Peskov,told reporters.
Even before the uprising,officials had made every effort to project an air of normalcy in Moscow while Russia waged a brutal war across the border in Ukraine. Much of that effort continued on Saturday. Movie theatres and museums were open in the capital,and there was no sign of lines at the supermarkets to stock up on goods.
Still,there were some indications of the crisis. Red Square,just outside the formidable medieval walls of the Kremlin,was closed to the public. A large graduation ceremony scheduled for the theatre inside the Kremlin was cancelled,as were all large public gatherings in Moscow and other major cities.
In Moscow,and in two other regions between the capital and Rostov-on-Don,authorities announced a “counterterrorist operation regime”,expanding the powers of local law enforcement.
Along that corridor,highways were blocked and public transportation also faced disruptions in some places. The price of airline tickets from Moscow to nearby capitals that Russians can enter without a visa skyrocketed.
In Rostov,where there was some anticipation that Russian government forces might besiege the city to bottle up Prigozhin’s forces,some residents lined up to purchase petrol and food,according to 161.ru,a local online news outlet. Some supermarkets took measures such as limiting the amount of essential goods – including salt,sugar and flour – that a customer could purchase.