Meloni following Russia events closely

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 24 - Premier Giorgia Meloni's office said Saturday she is following closely events in Russia where Wagner mercenary group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin has launched a rebellion saying the 25,000 strong group has captured the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and is ready to march on Moscow to bring down the military leadership there amid criticism of the Ukraine war, prompting President Vladimir Putin to say the former businessman has stabbed Russia in the back.
    "The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is closely following the events that are taking place in Russia and which bear witness to how the aggression against Ukraine is also causing instability within the Russian Federation," reported the note from the premier's office at Palazzo Chigi in Rome.
    Private militia leader Prigozhin defied Moscow and attacked its military leadership, announcing that he controls the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don having crossed back from Ukraine and promising to march on Moscow with his 25,000 men, ready to die if Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu does not agree to meet him.
    This spurred the wrath of Russian President Putin, who cried treason and promised to punish those responsible, saying: "they stabbed us (in the back), and the events of 1917 will not be repeated".
    In the Russian capital, anti-terrorism measures were set in train and the Red Square and Lenin's Mausoleum were closed.
    Russia's intelligence service, the FSB (formerly KGB), said: "Prigozhin is staging a coup d'état".
    The United States said it was following the crisis and consulting with its allies, while government sources in Kyiv said "it's only the beginning".
    Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that Italians in Russia were urged to be cautious, but there were "no problems at the moment".
    Meanwhile on the wear front three people are dead in Kyiv after overnight Russian raids, and rubble is being dug out after a 24-storey building was hit. (ANSA).