Hours after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin released an audio defending his move, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday branded the organizers of the weekend uprising “traitors” who played into the hands of Ukraine’s government and its allies.
Putin, who had been silent for nearly three days after the failed coup attempt, appeared on television for five minutes, delivering a stern message. He tried to strike a balance between criticizing the perpetrators of the rebellion and not angering the large numbers of mercenaries and their hardline supporters in order to prevent another crisis, some of whom are angry with the Kremlin’s handling of the situation.
Putin, whose troops are vulnerable to Ukrainian counter-attacks, praised the mercenaries for not allowing the situation to turn into “great bloodshed”. And he said the nation was united, although there had been local signs of support for the insurgency.
Prigozhin taunts the Russian army
Earlier in the day, the head of the mercenary army leading the rebellion defended his short-lived rebellion. He again took a jibe at Russia’s military but said he was not trying to stage a coup against Putin. On Friday, Prigozhin called for an armed uprising to oust the military leadership.
Putin’s address was announced by his Spokesman Something was presented in advance by Russian state media that would “define the fate of Russia.” In fact, there was no phenomenal development from the address.
Abbas Galyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter turned political analyst, called the address weak. In a Facebook post, he said it was a sign that Putin was “extremely dissatisfied with the way he has been seen throughout this story and is trying to rectify the situation.”
The Kremlin later showed Putin meeting with top security, law enforcement and military officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom the rebellion tried to remove. Putin thanked members of his team over the weekend for their work, which has meant support for the embattled Shoigu. Earlier, officials released a video of Shoigu reviewing troops in Ukraine.
Putin, who declined to name Prigozhin, said that the organizers of the uprising had tried to force the group’s soldiers to “shoot their own soldiers”. He added that the “enemies of Russia” hoped that the uprising would divide and weaken Russia, “but they miscalculated.”
Biden rejected Putin’s allegations
Western officials have been muted in their public comments on the insurgency, and President Joe Biden said on Monday that the US and NATO were not involved. Speaking at the White House, Biden said he was cautious about speaking publicly because he “didn’t want to give Putin any excuse to blame it on the West and blame it on NATO.”
“We made it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it,” he said.
‘No intention to topple’: Prigozhin
Prigozhin stated that he was acting to prevent the destruction of Wagner, his private military company. “We started our march because of injustice,” he said in an 11-minute statement on Monday, giving no details about where he was or what his plans were.
Clearly unjust was a government order that required Wagner troops, if they wished to continue fighting, to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense by 1 July, effectively demobilizing the group despite its battlefield successes in Ukraine. could break. Prigozhin also accused the Russian army of attacking his troops, forcing them to march.
The feud between the Wagner Group’s leader and military officers continued throughout the war, turning into a mutiny when mercenaries left Ukraine to capture a military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov. They marched unopposed for hundreds of miles towards Moscow before turning around less than 24 hours later on Saturday.
Read also: Russia: Wagner boss Prigozhin breaks silence after dramatic coup attempt: ‘No intention to topple’