Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Wagner commanders and troopers who averted bloodshed, saying most of them are patriots.
Putin mentioned he would honor his promise to permit Wagner fighters to relocate to Belarus in the event that they needed, or to signal a contract with the Defense Ministry or just return to their households.
He made no point out of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led the mutiny.
He additionally mentioned that he gave the order to keep away from bloodshed throughout an armed insurrection over the weekend that rattled his rule, saying the West and Kyiv needed Russians to “kill each other” and thanking residents for his or her “patriotism.”
“From the start of the events, on my orders steps were taken to avoid large-scale bloodshed,” Putin mentioned in a televised handle, thanking Russians for his or her “endurance and unity, and patriotism”.
“It was precisely this fratricide that Russia’s enemies wanted: both the neo-Nazis in Kyiv and their Western patrons, and all sorts of national traitors. They wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other,” he mentioned.
If mercenaries and common troops had fired at one another, solely Kyiv and the West would have benefited, however Russian society had confirmed to be united in its rejection of the rebellion, he mentioned.
”The armed mutiny would have been suppressed in any case. The mutiny’s organizers, despite their loss of judgment, could not but understand this,” he mentioned.
He additionally thanked Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko for mediating with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who’s now regarded as in Belarus after calling off the group’s advance on Moscow, however his whereabouts have but to be confirmed.
Putin, who didn’t point out Prigozhin by identify, provided Wagner fighters the choice of serving with the Russian navy.
All makes an attempt to sow chaos in Russia had been destined to fail, he mentioned. “The organizers of the mutiny, who betrayed the country, also betrayed those who were on their side,” he mentioned.
In his first feedback after the failed rebellion, Prigozhin denied searching for a change of energy in Moscow.
”We went out to demonstrate, not to overthrow the authorities in the country,” the 62-year-old mentioned in a voice message circulated by his press service on Telegram on Monday.
Prigozhin didn’t give particulars of his present whereabouts.
He repeated his accusation that the Russian Ministry of Defence shelled the navy camps of his mercenaries on Friday.
According to Prigozhin, 30 Wagner fighters had been killed, which along with what he mentioned was the ministry’s purpose of dissolving Wagner and transferring the personnel to the common military, was the set off for the march in the direction of Moscow.
Prigozhin, lengthy thought-about a detailed ally of Putin however labeled a traitor after the weekend’s rebellion, acknowledged that the protest had claimed lives.
”During our march, not a single soldier was killed on the ground. We regret that we were forced to shoot down flying objects, but that is because they bombed us,” he mentioned.
According to stories by Russian navy bloggers, six Russian military helicopters and one plane had been destroyed and their crews had been killed within the conflict. Officially, the Russian management has not acknowledged these losses.
Prigozhin, in flip, praised the march on Moscow as exemplary of how the full-scale invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin on February 24, 2022, ought to have proceeded.
A fast advance of models, the elimination of all navy websites of the enemy on the best way – and virtually with out casualties. On the Wagner aspect, two troopers had been killed and a number of other mercenaries had been injured, Prigozhin mentioned.
U.S. President Joe Biden mentioned he was watching occasions and denied claims Washington was concerned within the rebellion: “We’re going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine.”
”We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. This was part of a struggle within the Russian system.”
”The ultimate outcome of all this remains to be seen,” Biden mentioned on Monday.
Criminal proceedings towards Prigozhin haven’t but been dropped, in keeping with media stories from Moscow on Monday.
Investigators from Russia’s FSB home secret service proceed to analyze the case, the every day Kommersant reported, citing the investigators.
”Investigations are ongoing,” the Russian news company Interfax additionally reported, citing its personal unspecified supply.
The Kremlin introduced on Saturday night that legal proceedings towards Prigozhin and the Wagner insurgents can be dropped.
In a speech on Saturday, Putin mentioned that the masterminds behind the rebellion would face their “inevitable punishment.”
The announcement that adopted later, indicating that the rebels would go unpunished after the top of the revolt, triggered astonishment throughout the nation. Commentators interpreted Putin’s concession as a weak spot.
According to native media, Wagner places of work have been raided in St Petersburg, the place Prigozhin has been primarily based till now.
Advertising posters utilized by the non-public military to recruit volunteers for navy service in Ukraine have additionally been eliminated all through Russia.
Thousands of mercenaries serve within the Wagner drive. The social community VK – the Russian counterpart of Facebook – blocked Wagner’s web page on the directions of the prosecutor normal’s workplace.
Lukashenko and Prigozhin, who, in keeping with the Kremlin, have identified one another for about 20 years, had independently acknowledged that the withdrawal of the Wagner troops was supposed to forestall “bloodshed” in Russia.
Prigozhin had leveled critical accusations towards Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, citing their alleged navy misconduct as the rationale why he needed his fighters to oust them.
After Prigozhin surprisingly declared his rebellion to be over on Saturday night, hypothesis elevated as as to whether there would possibly now be personnel modifications within the Russian navy management.
On Monday the state of emergency imposed in Moscow following the tried rebellion was lifted.
The anti-terror emergency was additionally lifted within the better Moscow area and within the Voronezh area additional south.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
