Putin praises Russian troops for putting down mutiny
President Vladimir Putin praised members of Russia’s military and security forces in a ceremony on Tuesday as he sought to reassert his authority following an aborted mutiny by mercenaries led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
A jet linked to Prigozhin arrived in Belarus from Russia, believed to be carrying the mercenary boss into exile, three days after he abruptly called off his mutiny with his fighters bearing down on the capital, Reuters reported.
Authorities dropped a criminal case against Wagner, state news agency RIA reported, apparently fulfilling one condition of a deal agreed late on Saturday that defused the crisis, Reuters reported.
Putin told some 2,500 security personnel mustered on a square in the Kremlin complex that the people and the armed forces had stood together in opposition to the rebel mercenaries.
He was joined by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose dismissal had been one of the mutineers’ main demands.
Putin also requested a minute of silence to honour Russian military pilots killed in the revolt. The fighters had shot down several aircraft during their run towards Moscow, although they faced no resistance on the ground.
Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and ex-convict whose mercenaries have fought the bloodiest battles of the Ukraine war and taken heavy casualties, had said he would go to neighbouring Belarus at the invitation of its president, close Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin said in a televised address on Monday night that the mutiny leaders had betrayed their motherland, although he did not mention Prigozhin by name. Wagner fighters would be permitted to establish themselves in Belarus, join the Russian military or go home, he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing on Tuesday the deal ending the mutiny was being implemented, and he had no information on where Prigozhin was. He also said he did not know how many Wagner fighters would sign contracts with the Defence Ministry.
He dismissed the idea that Putin’s grip on power had been shaken by the mutiny, calling such thoughts “hysteria”.
Prigozhin, 62, said he launched the mutiny to save his group after being ordered to place it under command of the Defence Ministry.
His fighters had halted their campaign on Saturday to avert bloodshed after nearly reaching Moscow, and regretted being forced to shoot down aircraft on the way, he said.
“We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government of the country,” Prigozhin said in an audio message on Monday.