Vladimir Putin posed on Monday evening as a guarantor of internal peace in Russia, ensuring that he had avoided a bloodbath, during his first public statement since the brief Wagner rebellion, which his leader Yevgeny Prigojine justified to save the paramilitary group and not to seize power.
“From the beginning of the events, measures were taken on my direct instructions in order to avoid a great bloodshed,” said the Russian president in a short televised address to the nation, accusing Ukraine and the West to wish for “such a fratricidal outcome”.
Shortly before, his American counterpart Joe Biden had on the contrary assured that Westerners were “not involved” and had “nothing to do with these events”, described as an “internal problem in Russia”.
Thanking the Russians for their “resilience”, their “unity” and their “patriotism”, Mr Putin declared that “this citizen solidarity has shown that any blackmail (…) is doomed to failure”.
Posing as a guarantor of a return to calm, the Russian leader then let it be known, through the spokesperson for the presidency, that he was “in a working meeting” with the main security officials of the country, in particular the general prosecutor. , the interior and defense ministers, and the director of the FSB (security service). He “thanked them for the work done during these few days”.
To the members of Wagner involved in the mutiny, which led some to a little more than 200 km from Moscow, he proposed to integrate the regular army, to “return to their families and to their relatives” or to “go to the Belarus”, allied country where their boss Evguéni Prigojine must go into exile, according to the Kremlin.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will “very soon” deliver a speech, announced a Telegram channel close to the presidency, without specifying a date.
Monday evening, Mr Putin once again accused the boss of Wagner, without naming him, of having “betrayed his country and his people” while “lying” to his men.
During the day, Yevgeni Prigojine had justified his revolt by the fact that he wanted to save his organization, not to seize power, and that his attempt brought to light the “serious security problems” in Russia.
The Russian authorities have endeavored throughout the day on Monday to give an image of normality in the country, despite this serious blow in the space of 24 hours to the image of Vladimir Putin, in full Ukrainian counter-offensive .
In an 11-minute audio message, Mr Prigozhin did not reveal his whereabouts, despite the agreement reached on Saturday evening with the Kremlin through Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko providing for him to go into exile in Belarus .
According to him, the march of his men towards Moscow “brought to light serious security problems in the country”, as they were able to seize without much resistance the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and several other military sites, covering 780 kilometers before stopping “just over 200 km from Moscow”. He also assured that he had the support of the civilians he met during this short rebellion.
For months, Wagner’s boss had accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov of being incompetent and of having sent tens of thousands of soldiers to sacrifice.
According to him, the Ministry of Defense tried to dismantle Wagner by absorbing him, then bombed one of his camps, killing thirty. An accusation denied by the Russian army.
Sergei Shoigu, who had disappeared during the rebellion, reappeared earlier Monday in a video inspecting forces engaged in Ukraine, without it being possible to determine when these images were filmed.
The Wagner group also assured that its headquarters in Saint Petersburg was operating “normally”, while the head of diplomacy Sergei Lavrov noted that the paramilitaries would continue their operations in Mali and the Central African Republic.
The organization has also resumed its recruitment in certain regions of Russia, according to the TASS agency.
Another sign of this effort to return to normal, the authorities announced the end of the “anti-terrorist operation regime” in the Moscow region and that of Voronezh, south of the capital.
Mr. Prigojine, a businessman who was an ally of Putin responsible for carrying out many of Moscow’s dirty tricks, put an end to his rebellion on Saturday evening, in exchange for immunity promised by the Kremlin for him and his men.
But on Monday, Russian news agencies all announced that the criminal investigation against him for “calling for armed mutiny” was still ongoing.
While the coup ended as suddenly as it began, this crisis represents the biggest challenge Putin has faced since he came to power in late 1999.
Many analysts also believe that it could weaken Russian forces in Ukraine and benefit kyiv in its counter-offensive.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Donetsk region, near the eastern front in Ukraine, on Monday, his army leading a counter-offensive in this area and in the south.
According to the presidency, he “visited units of the armed forces of the operational and strategic group of Khortytsia”. “I want to thank you, reward you all and shake hands with great gratitude, you, your families, your parents,” he told the military. “Ukraine is proud of each of you”.
Later, in his traditional daily message, Mr. Zelensky referred to the “active operational areas on the front”, the regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhya.
“Today our soldiers made progress in all areas, and it is a happy day. I wished them more days like this,” he said.
06/27/2023 08:46:52 – Moscow (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
