Kremlin tightens security as Wagner Group rebels head towards Moscow

Checkpoints have been set up around Moscow (AP)

Checkpoints with armoured vehicles have been set up and Moscow’s mayor urged motorists to stay off roads as the Russian capital braced for the arrival of a private army led by a rebellious mercenary commander.

President Vladimir Putin vowed harsh consequences for organisers of the armed uprising led by his former protege, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who brought his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key military facility in southern Russia and advanced towards Moscow.