Chechen warlord sides with Russia's Putin after Wagner mutiny

Chechnya warlord Ramzan Kadyrov has sided with President Vladimir Putin as the Wagner group fighters barrelled towards Moscow after seizing a southern city overnight.

In a Telegram post, Kadyrov echoed comments made earlier by Putin who slammed the rebellion as "treason" and a "stab in the back".

The Chechnya warlord, who has often described himself as Putin's "foot soldier", said the Wagner mutiny was a "challenge to the state", adding that it was necessary to "rally around the national leader".

He said that Chechen fighters had already left for the areas of conflict.

Chechen units, under the command of Kadyrov, had joined Russian troops at the frontlines in Ukraine, particularly in areas were the Russians had faced major setbacks.

Moscow fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia, after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union. But it has since poured huge sums of money into the region to rebuild it and given Kadyrov a large measure of autonomy.