MOSCOW, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine and its Western allies of wanting Russians to “kill each other” during a revolt by mercenaries of the Wagner group, which stunned the country with an aborted march on Moscow over the weekend.
In his first address to the nation since the rebels pulled back, Putin said he had issued orders to avoid bloodshed and granted amnesty to the Wagner fighters whose mutiny served up the greatest challenge yet to his two-decade rule.
“From the start of the events, on my orders steps were taken to avoid large-scale bloodshed,” Putin said in a televised address, thanking Russians for their “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,” Putin said.
Putin also thanked his security officials for their work during the armed rebellion in a meeting that included Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, a main target of the mutiny.
“Civilian solidarity showed that any blackmail, any attempts to organise internal turmoil, is doomed to fail,” Putin said.
He added that Wagner fighters could choose whether to join the Russian army or leave for Belarus, or even return to their homes.
“Today you have the possibility to continue serving Russia by entering into a contract with the Ministry of Defence or other law enforcement agencies, or to return to your family and close ones… Whoever wants to can go to Belarus,” Putin said in his address.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had earlier defended his aborted mutiny as a bid to save his mercenary outfit and expose the failures of Russia’s military leadership — but not to challenge the Kremlin.
The rogue warlord’s first audio message since calling off his troops’ advance on Moscow was released as Russian officials attempted to present the public with a return to business as usual.
Saturday’s extraordinary sequence of events — Russian military bloggers report that Wagner shot down six Russian helicopters and a command and control plane during their advance — has been seen internationally as Russia’s most serious security crisis in decades.
The Kremlin was at pains to stress that there had been a return to normal.
The Wagner headquarters in Saint Petersburg said it remained open for business, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the firm would continue to operate in Mali and the Central African Republic.
Officials in Moscow and the Voronezh region south of the capital lifted “anti-terrorist” emergency security measures imposed to protect the capital from rebel assault. — NNN-AGENCIES
