Moscow Mayor urges citizens to stay off roads and declares Monday a 'non-working' day

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday urged Russian residents to stay off the roads and declared Monday to be a non-working day for most residents, with exceptions for public service jobs and industrial enterprises.

Crews have taken action by digging up parts of highways in order to slow down the Wagner mercenary army, Fox 5 reports. Red Square access was closed and two museums had to be evacuated while a park was shut down.

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed harsh punishment for the armed rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group.

While there have been reports of Putin fleeing Moscow as the Wagner group reportedly has moved through Voronezh, roughly 385 miles from Moscow, his spokesperson has denied it. 

Moscow has issued an arrest warrant for Prigozhin, accusing him of inciting an armed rebellion against the government.

Prigozhin has long feuded with the Ministry of Defense over its prosecution of the war in Ukraine. On Friday night, tensions reached a boiling point as Prigozhin announced he had withdrawn his forces from the front and entered Russia via Rostov, CNN reported. He accused the Kremlin of attacking his men, which the government has strongly denied.

Russia has opened a criminal case into the mercenary leader for inciting an armed rebellion.