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Photo: Canadian Press Agency
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023. (Gavriel Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo, AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked people across the country on Monday for their unity, after an armed insurgency over the weekend was halted less than 24 hours after it started. Earlier in the day, the mercenary chief defended his short-lived rebellion in a boastful statement.
In his first appearance since the end of the rebellion, Putin also thanked most of the mercenaries for not allowing the situation to escalate into “bloodshed”. He said all necessary measures had been taken to protect the country and the people from the rebellion.
He blamed “Russia’s enemies” and said they had “miscalculated”.
The Kremlin also tried to appear steady on Monday, when authorities released a video of Russia’s defense minister inspecting troops in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary group, said he had no intention of staging a coup but was acting to prevent the destruction of his private military company Wagner. “We are marching because of injustice,” he said in an 11-minute statement, without elaborating where he was or what his plans were.
The feud between Wagner Group leaders and Russia’s military top brass has festered throughout the war, culminating in an insurgency when mercenaries left Ukraine over the weekend to seize military headquarters in southern Russian cities. They drove hundreds of miles toward Moscow seemingly unhindered before turning around less than 24 hours later on Saturday.
The Kremlin said a deal had been reached whereby Prigozhin would move to Belarus with his soldiers and receive an amnesty. His whereabouts were not confirmed on Monday, but popular Russian news channel Telegram reported that he was in a hotel in the Belarusian capital Minsk.
Prigozhin mocked the Russian military on Monday, calling his march a “master class” on how Russia should carry out its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He also mocked the military’s failure to protect Russia, noting that the security gap allowed Wagner to travel 780 kilometers (500 miles) to Moscow without encountering resistance.
The bullish statement did not provide any clarity on what would ultimately happen to Prigozhin and his army under a deal said to be brokered by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Prigozhin only said that Lukashenko “proposed to find a solution for the Wagner Private Military Company to continue its work within the legal jurisdiction.” Be clear which jurisdiction he is referring to.
Vyorstka, an independent Russian news outlet, claimed that Belarus is building a field camp for 8,000 Wagnerian soldiers some 200 kilometers (320 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.
The report could not be independently verified. The Belarusian military monitoring group Belaruski Hajun said on Telegram on Monday that it had not seen any activity in the area consistent with the construction of the facility, and there was no indication that the Wagner convoy had entered or was heading towards Belarus.
The rebellion, though brief, was not bloodless. Russian media reported that Wagner’s forces shot down several military helicopters and a communications plane, killing at least 15 people. Prigozhin regretted the attack on the planes, but said they were bombing his convoy.
Russian media reported that despite the Kremlin’s earlier statement, the criminal case against Prigozhin had not been closed and some Russian lawmakers had called for him to be hunted down.
Retired general and current MP Andrei Gurulev, who had feuded with the mercenary leader, said Prigorzhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin should “get shot”.
Nikita Yurivov, a member of the St. Petersburg city council, said that in view of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech on Saturday morning, to punish those behind it.
It is unclear what resources Prigorzhin has at his disposal, or how much of his vast wealth he has at his disposal. According to Russian media reports confirmed by Wagner’s boss, police raided his St. Petersburg office during the insurgency and found 4 billion rubles ($48 million) in a truck outside the building. He said the money was used to pay the soldiers’ families.
Russian media reported that Wagner’s offices in several Russian cities reopened on Monday and the company resumed recruiting.
Seeking to restore at least a semblance of normalcy, Moscow’s mayor announced an end to the “anti-terror regime” imposed on the capital on Saturday, when troops and armored vehicles set up checkpoints on the outskirts and authorities tore up roads leading into the city.
The Ministry of Defense released a video of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu riding in a helicopter before meeting officers at the Ukrainian military headquarters. It’s unclear when the video was shot. Russian media speculates that Shoigu and other military leaders have lost Putin’s trust and may be replaced.
Before the uprising, Prigozhin spent months hurling expletive-filled insults at Shoigu and the chief of the general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of failing to defend him in the battle for the Ukrainian town of Bachmut. It was the longest and bloodiest town of the war. fighting.
Prigozhin’s statement appeared to confirm analysts’ view that the rebellion was a desperate move to avoid Wagner’s dismissal after ordering all private military companies to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense by July 1.
Prigozhin said most of his warplanes refused to take command of the Defense Ministry, which plans to withdraw from Ukraine on June 30 and hand over military equipment for use in Ukraine after it assembles in the southern Russian city of Rostov. University Teachers. He accused the Department of Defense of attacking Wagner’s camp, prompting them to act more quickly.
Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya tweeted that Prigozhin’s defection was “not about power or trying to overtake the Kremlin” but rather his ongoing disagreements with the military leadership A desperate move in case of escalation.
While Prigozhin could emerge from the crisis alive, he has no political future in Putin’s Russia, Stanovaya said.
It was unclear what the rift created by the 24-hour insurgency would mean for the war in Ukraine, with Western officials saying Russian troops were demoralized. Wagner’s forces were key to Russia’s only land victory at Bakhmut in months.
The UK Ministry of Defense said on Monday that the Ukrainian advance around Bakhmut had “gained momentum”, making progress north and south of the town. Ukrainian troops claim to have retaken Rivnopil, a village in southeastern Ukraine where heavy fighting took place.
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