- Putin makes first public comments since Saturday’s uprising
- Prigozhin says he never intended a revolution
- No clue in audio as to Prigozhin’s whereabouts, circumstances
- Biden says West had nothing to do with the aborted mutiny
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to pilots killed fighting an aborted mutiny, confirming their deaths for the first time while thanking Russians for showing patriotic solidarity in the face of the Wagner militia group’s march on Moscow.
Putin’s televised address was his first public comment since Saturday’s armed revolt led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and confirmed reports on social media that Wagner forces had downed Russian aircraft in the fighting.
Thanking the Russian people, servicemen, law enforcement and security services for remaining united to protect “the Fatherland”, Putin said it showed Russia would not succumb to “any blackmail, any attempt to create internal turmoil”.
There has been no official information about how many pilots died or how many aircraft were shot down. Some Russian Telegram channels monitoring Russia’s military activity reported that 13 Russian pilots were killed during the day-long mutiny.
Putin said the leaders of the mutiny had “engaged in a criminal act, in a split and a weakening of the country, which is now facing a colossal external threat and unprecedented pressure from within.” The mutiny’s organizers had also betrayed the soldiers that they led, he said.
He said “steps were taken on my direct instruction to avoid serious bloodshed” during the insurrection, which ended abruptly with Wagner forces standing down and Prigozhin agreeing to go into exile in neighbouring Belarus.
Wagner leader Prigozhin also spoke in an 11-minute audio message posted on his press service’s Telegram channel and gave few clues to his whereabouts or the deal. He said his men had been forced to shoot down helicopters that attacked them as they drove nearly 800km (500 miles) towards the capital, before abruptly calling off the uprising.
Numerous Western leaders saw the unrest as exposing Putin’s vulnerability following his decision to invade Ukraine 16 months ago.
The Russian president said he would honour his weekend promise to allow Wagner forces to relocate to Belarus, sign a contract with Russia’s Defence Ministry, or return to their families. One of Prigozhin’s principal demands had been that Shoigu be sacked, along with Russia’s top general, who by Monday evening had not appeared in public since the mutiny.
Prigozhin, 62, a former Putin ally and ex-convict whose forces have fought the bloodiest battles of the Ukraine war, defied orders this month to place his troops under Defence Ministry command.
Last seen on Saturday night smiling and high-fiving bystanders from the back of an SUV as he withdrew from a Russian city occupied by his men, Prigozhin said his fighters had halted their campaign to avert bloodshed.
On Saturday, Prigozhin had said he was leaving for Belarus under a deal brokered by its president, Alexander Lukashenko. In Monday’s remarks, he said Lukashenko had offered to let Wagner operate under a legal framework but did not elaborate.
Belarusian state media reported that Lukashenko would speak with journalists on Tuesday, which could potentially shed more light on the whereabouts of Prigozhin.
The White House said it could not confirm whether the Wagner chief was in Belarus. Russia’s three main news agencies reported that a criminal case against Prigozhin had not been closed, an apparent reversal of an offer of immunity. Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said in a post on Telegram that Russia needed a contract army of at least seven million military and civilian personnel, on top of the current conscript army, so that there would no longer be a need to use private military companies like Wagner.
In comments before a speech at the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden called the mutiny “part of a struggle within the Russian system”. He discussed it in a conference call with key allies who agreed it was vital not to let Putin blame it on the West or NATO, he said.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. policy did not seek to change the government in Russia. Foreign governments, both friendly and hostile to Russia, were left groping for answers to what had happened behind the scenes and what could come next.
Investors also backed away, as the rouble sank to its weakest in nearly 15 months, at 87.23 per dollar on Monday, but by early Tuesday it had steadied slightly to 84.80 per dollar.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the military had made advances on Monday in all sectors of the front line, calling it a “happy day” in his nightly video address delivered from a train after visiting frontline positions.
Kyiv hopes the chaos caused by the mutiny attempt in Russia will undermine its defences as Ukraine presses on with a counteroffensive to recapture occupied territory.
(With inputs from agencies)
