Addressing the country in the wake of the revolt by the Wagner mercenary group, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday thanked commanders and soldiers of the private army for avoiding bloodshed.
Russian President said that most of Wagner are also patriots while adding that any blackmail and turmoil are doomed to fail.
“I promise those of Wagner who want to go to Belarus, I will keep my promise," the Russian President said in a national address.
Putin added that the West and Ukraine wanted Russians to ‘kill each other’.
Earlier in the evening, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would make several important statements soon.
Putin’s address came on the same day as Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin released a boastful audio statement, defending his short-lived insurrection.
As the Kremlin aimed to project stability, Russia’s defense minister appeared in a video reviewing troops in Ukraine.
Prigozhin clarified that his actions were not an attempt to stage a coup but rather to prevent the destruction of Wagner, his private military company. However, he provided no specific details about his whereabouts or future plans.
The feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s military leadership had been simmering throughout the war, culminating in a mutiny over the weekend when mercenaries left Ukraine to seize a military headquarters in a southern Russian city.
Surprisingly, they managed to advance unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow before abruptly turning back within 24 hours on Saturday.
The Kremlin announced a deal for Prigozhin to relocate to Belarus and receive amnesty, along with his soldiers. Although Prigozhin’s exact location remained unconfirmed, a popular Russian news channel on Telegram reported that he was staying at a hotel in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
In his statement, Prigozhin taunted Russia’s military, boasting that his march was a “master class" on how the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine should have been executed.
He also criticized the military for its failure to protect Russia, highlighting security breaches that allowed Wagner to march toward Moscow without encountering resistance.
The details of the deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko remained unclear.
Prigozhin mentioned Lukashenko proposing solutions for the Wagner private military company to continue its operations in a lawful jurisdiction, hinting that his military force might be preserved.
However, the specific jurisdiction he referred to was not immediately apparent.
Although the mutiny was short-lived, it was not without casualties. Russian media reported that Wagner forces shot down several military helicopters and a communications plane, resulting in the deaths of at least 15 people.
Prigozhin expressed regret for these attacks but argued that the aircraft had been targeting his convoys.
Contrary to earlier Kremlin statements, reports indicated that the criminal case against Prigozhin had not been closed, and some Russian lawmakers called for his prosecution.
(With AP inputs)