President Putin says he let Wagner group’s mutiny go on ‘to keep away from bloodshed’

By Reuters: Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Monday he let Saturday’s aborted mutiny go on so long as it did to keep away from bloodshed, whereas the Wagner mercenary group boss who led the rebellion stated he by no means meant to overthrow the federal government.

Putin’s televised deal with was his first public remark since Saturday, when he had stated the insurrection threatened Russia’s very existence and people behind it might be punished.

“From the very beginning of the events, steps were taken on my direct instruction to avoid serious bloodshed,” Putin stated on Monday.

“Time was needed, among other things, to give those who had made a mistake a chance to come to their senses, to realise that their actions were firmly rejected by society, and that the adventure in which they had been involved had tragic and destructive consequences for Russia and for our state.”

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin spoke in an 11-minute audio message that was posted on his press service’s Telegram channel and which gave few clues to his whereabouts, or the deal beneath which he halted the transfer towards Moscow.

Prigozhin shocked the world by main Saturday’s armed revolt, an occasion that quite a few Western leaders noticed as exposing Putin’s vulnerability after invading Ukraine 16 months in the past.

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The mercenary chief abruptly referred to as the rebellion off after his fighters had approached Moscow with just about no resistance throughout a touch of almost 800 km (500 miles).

The Russian president stated on Monday he would honour his weekend promise to permit Wagner forces to relocate to Belarus in the event that they needed, signal a contract with Russia’s Defence Ministry, or return to their households.

He made no point out of Prigozhin. Putin met on Monday night time with the heads of Russian safety providers, together with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, IFX reported, citing a Kremlin spokesman.

One of Prigozhin’s principal calls for had been that Shoigu be sacked, together with Russia’s high normal, who by Monday night had but to seem in public because the mutiny.

Prigozhin, 62, a former Putin ally and ex-convict whose forces have fought the bloodiest battles of the Ukraine battle, defied orders this month to position his troops beneath Defence Ministry command.

PRIGOZHIN WHEREABOUTS UNCLEAR

Last seen on Saturday night time smiling and high-fiving bystanders from the again of an SUV as he withdrew from a metropolis occupied by his males, Prigozhin stated his fighters had halted their marketing campaign as a way to avert bloodshed.

“We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government of the country,” Prigozhin stated within the audio message.

He made no direct reference to his personal whereabouts, nor supplied additional particulars of the mysterious settlement that had introduced a halt to his mutiny.

On Saturday Prigozhin had stated he was leaving for Belarus beneath a deal brokered by its president, Alexander Lukashenko. In Monday’s remarks he stated Lukashenko had provided to let Wagner function beneath a authorized framework, however didn’t elaborate.

The White House stated it couldn’t affirm whether or not the Wagner chief was in Belarus.

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Prigozhin stated his males had been pressured to shoot down helicopters that attacked them as they drove in the direction of Moscow.

Putin additionally alluded to some combating, saying “the organisers of the mutiny” had led the Wagner troops “to shoot their own.”

Putin thanked Wagner fighters and commanders who stood all the way down to keep away from what he referred to as “fratricidal bloodshed”, and stated the overwhelming majority of Wagner’s members have been patriots.

Russia’s three predominant information businesses reported on Monday {that a} legal case towards Prigozhin had not been closed, an obvious reversal of a proposal of immunity publicised as a part of the deal that persuaded him to face down.

‘NOTHING TO DO WITH IT’

In feedback earlier than a speech on the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden referred to as the mutiny “part of a struggle within the Russian system”. He mentioned it in a convention name with key allies who agreed it was important to not let Putin blame it on the West or NATO, he stated.

“We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it,” Biden stated.

White House nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby stated U.S. coverage didn’t search to vary the federal government in Russia.

Foreign governments, each pleasant and hostile to Russia, have been left groping for solutions to what had occurred behind the scenes and what may come subsequent.

“The political system is showing fragilities, and the military power is cracking,” European Union international coverage chief Josep Borrell informed reporters in Luxembourg.

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In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated the navy had made advances on Monday in all sectors of the entrance line. “It is a happy day,” Zelenskiy stated in his nightly video deal with, delivered from a practice after visiting frontline positions. “May I wish our boys more such days.”

Kyiv hopes the chaos attributable to the mutiny try in Russia will undermine its defences as Ukraine presses on with a counteroffensive, begun earlier this month to recapture territory which Moscow claims to have annexed.

On Monday, Ukraine stated its forces had recaptured the small southern village of Rivnopil, the ninth village it says it has retaken since launching the counteroffensive, and the primary in additional than per week. Russia stated it had foiled Ukrainian assaults.