2023-06-26 22:06:00
After the Wagner revolt, Russia’s President Putin thanked the security forces for their efforts. He gave the Wagner mercenaries a choice: join the army, return to the family, or live in Belarus.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian security forces and the population for their support following the revolt of Wagner’s private army was crushed. “I thank all the soldiers, employees of the secret services, who stood in the way of the insurgents,” Putin said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Everything had been done on his orders to prevent bloodshed. “It took time,” Putin said. “The armed uprising would have been crushed that way.”
If mercenaries and regular troops had fired at each other, it would have benefited Kiev and the West in particular, Putin said. There they had already hoped that Russia would tear itself apart. But Russian society has shown itself to be united in its opposition to the uprising. In the end, the revolutionaries recognized this and gave up, according to Putin.
Offer to Wagner mercenaries
It was the first time since the end of the Wagner armed uprising that Putin spoke publicly regarding it. In his short speech, which lasted less than ten minutes, the Kremlin boss also addressed the mercenaries of the Wagner group: They might either go to Belarus, return to their families, or join the Russian army.
ARD correspondent Olaf Bock describes Putin’s words as an “attempt to reintegrate these people and open a window for them”. Because “for many Russians, these Wagner fighters are actually heroes. Because from their point of view, they have done good service in the Ukraine,” said Bock.
Putin confirms casualties during uprising
Putin also warned once morest trying to blackmail Russia. Any attempt to create chaos in Russia is doomed to fail, the president stressed. “The organizers of the uprising, who betrayed the country, also betrayed those who were on their side,” said the Russian president.
He also thanked Belarus’ ruler Alexander Lukashenko for mediating the conflict with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. His ex-confidant gave up the march on Moscow on Saturday and is said to find refuge in Belarus.
On Saturday night, the mercenary chief made serious allegations once morest the Russian Ministry of Defense and accused Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering an attack on a military camp by the Wagner troops fighting for Moscow. He then occupied the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and sent some units of his troops towards Moscow. Their practically unhindered advance on Moscow, which only stopped a good 200 kilometers from the Russian capital because Prigozhin had given up, caused shock waves.
In his speech, Putin tried to maintain the impression that the power and security organs were capable of acting. He praised the courage and self-sacrifice of Russian pilots who were killed while confronting the insurgents. It was the first time that the Russian leadership had thus acknowledged casualties during the uprising.
With information from Stephan Laack and Olaf Bock, ARD Studio Moscow
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