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Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the short-lived Wagner mutiny in a five-minute speech Monday, saying that he took steps to “avoid much bloodshed” as the convoy of Wagner mercenary fighters marched toward Moscow over the weekend in what’s been seen as an extraordinary challenge to his authority.
Without directly naming Wagner Group leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin in his speech, Putin said “the organizers of the rebellion” betrayed their country, their people and “those whom they lured into this crime. They lied to them, pushed them towards death, under fire, to shoot at their own people.”
Striking a tone both stern and conciliatory, Putin thanked Wagner fighters — the “vast majority” of whom were patriots, he said — for making “the only right decision” by turning back before reaching Moscow. He added that “an armed rebellion would have been suppressed in any case.” He said he would keep his promise and allow Wagner fighters to move to neighboring Belarus.
The leader’s comments came after Wagner chief Prigozhin posted an 11-minute audio statement Monday claiming that he launched the rebellion after Russian forces killed 30 of his fighters. They were his first remarks since accepting a deal to avoid prosecution and withdrawing his fighters Saturday.
The mutiny has forced a closer examination of Putin’s hold on power. Russia’s political system is “showing its fragilities, and the military power is cracking,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Monday at a summit of E.U. foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Questions remain about the whereabouts of Prigozhin — who has not been seen in public since the episode came to a close — and about the future of his Wagner Group mercenaries. Prigozhin said he accepted a deal to avoid prosecution and move to Belarus because Wagner could continue its operations there.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Wagner rebellion and aftermath
Now, after the short-lived rebellion, Prigozhin has reportedly agreed to go into exile in Belarus, a dictatorship even more isolated than Russia and often referred to as the North Korea of Europe, Mary Ilyushina reports.
On some levels, Prigozhin’s most brazen gambit clearly failed — his rebellion ended without the ouster of his archenemies, Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the overall commander of the war in Ukraine. But he did not completely lose his private mercenary army, and he appeared to win some acclaim in Russia: After the news of his deal with Putin was announced, he got a celebrity send-off as he left the city of Rostov-on-Don, with many locals applauding and rushing to take selfies.
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