Russia came to a standstill yesterday after the most serious crisis for Vladimir Putin’s political system since he came to power on the last day of 1999. The Russian president reappeared at night with a televised message to the nation in which he called to the unity of Russia and offered Wagner’s mercenaries to join the army or go to Belarus with their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The latter, for years his ally, did not even mention him by name, but reiterated that “he betrayed the country”. Prigojin also reappeared, and in an attempt to turn reality upside down with his statements, he assured that the armed rebellion with which his troops had the heart of the country for 24 hours, with a march towards Moscow did not seek to overthrow Putin.
“The organizer of the rebellion betrayed the country and those who were with them,” Putin said in a speech that lasted just over five minutes. He thanked the Wagner Group commanders who withdrew to avoid bloodshed and assured that he will fulfill the promise he made to them on Saturday, when after the agreement reached with the mediation of his Belarusian ally , Aleksandr Lukashenko, the revolt was put to an end.
He offered the mercenaries to join the regular army or go into exile in Belarus with Prigozhin. “They have the opportunity to continue serving in Russia by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense, return with their family and friends, or those who want can go to Belarus,” he said.
During the day, the Russian authorities tried to create a sense of calm after the tension experienced at the weekend. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mixustin, a technocrat from head to toe, removed from the intrigues of power and decisions about the military campaign in Ukraine, was the latest known Russian figure to come out and demand “loyalty” to the leader . “We must act together, as a team, and maintain the unity of all forces, grouping ourselves around the president”, he said at a Government meeting.
In the same attempt to appear calm, the mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, announced that the anti-terrorist regime, in force during the weekend, was being cancelled. And the authorities released images of Defense Minister Serguei Xoigú flying in a plane with another military man and attending to reports at a command post.
The rioters had demanded his chief, which had raised speculation that his removal was part of the deal reached in extremis on Saturday night. Even if some Telegram channels assured that the images were taken before the crisis, with their dissemination it seems clear that the Kremlin gives its support to Xoigu, on the other hand a close friend of Putin for many years.
What did form part of the agreement on Saturday was that the founder and head of the private military company Wagner, the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, would not be prosecuted and that the criminal case opened by the FSB (former Soviet KGB) and the Attorney General’s Office would be closed. For the time being, yesterday this point had not been fulfilled, as reported by the official Russian agencies, Tass, Ria Nóvosti and Interfax, in addition to the Kommersant newspaper. The crime of armed rebellion is punishable in Russia with between 12 and 20 years in prison.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, assured that, according to what was agreed, Prigozhin would be removed from the accusation and would go to Belarus, in an exile whose details are not known but offered by Lukashenko and ” guaranteed by Putin”, according to Peskov.
As if to counter the official position, Prigozhin, 62, yesterday broke his silence since he was seen leaving Rostov-on-Don, the major city his men took, on Saturday night, smiling and waving to city ??dwellers from the back of an all-terrain vehicle.
Wagner’s boss released an eleven-minute audio in which he assures that with the rebellion of his men he never wanted to overthrow Putin. “We were marching in a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the Government of the country”, he said. He also asserted that the move was necessary to avoid the destruction of the company and that he finally decided to go back to avoid the bloodshed of Russian soldiers.
Before this crisis, Putin had ordered that all “volunteer” units, which includes private military companies, sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense before next July 1. In order not to lose control of his mercenary company, Prigozhin flatly refused, while other units, such as the Chechen special forces Akhmat, did accept it.
Another goal, he noted, was to hold accountable military commanders who had failed in the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. He claimed that his men did not engage in ground combat in Russia, and regretted having to shoot down Russian planes that had fired on them. “We stopped at the moment when the first assault unit deployed its artillery (near Moscow), we did a reconnaissance and realized that a lot of blood would be spilled,” he said.
The advance of Wagner’s men from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow, on a thousand-kilometer march, revealed “serious security problems” in Russia, Prigozhin said in his recording. The controversial businessman assured that his men blocked military installations and met little resistance.
He also assured that the population was with them. “Civilians came out to meet us with Russian flags and Wagner emblems, they were happy when we arrived and passed by them,” he said. In fact, some residents of Rostov enthusiastically greeted the mercenaries on Saturday and took pictures with them, despite the nervousness caused by having armed and armored men on the streets of their city.
Prigojin did not reveal his whereabouts or his circumstances. Whether he has already started his new life in the exile offered to him by Lukashenko is something that can only be speculated on.
At the moment, the research portal Verstka published yesterday that camps for Wagner Group mercenaries have begun to be built in the Belarusian region of Maguiliov, about 200 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The sources of this medium specify that there would be several camps, one near the city of Assipóvitxi, of 24,000 square meters and capacity for 8,000 beds.
