Russian state television on Sunday showed Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing confidence in Ukraine’s plans in an interview that appeared to have been recorded before Saturday’s abortive revolt by the Wagner mercenary group.
“We feel confident and, of course, we are in a position to implement all the plans and tasks ahead of us,” Putin said. “This also applies to the defense of the country, it applies to the special military operation, it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas,” the Russian president reiterated.
These comments made in an interview with Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin were broadcast on Rossiya state television. Zarubin said the interview took place after a meeting with military graduates, in an apparent reference to an event held on Wednesday.
The brief report makes no mention of Saturday’s revolt, in which Wagner’s mercenaries seized a southern city before heading to Moscow. In a televised address before the drama died down and the group halted its advance, Putin said the rebellion endangered Russia’s very existence.
In its daily report on Sunday, the Defense Ministry also did not mention anything about the actions of Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Asked in the interview how much time he spends on what Russia calls its special military operation, Putin said: “Of course this is paramount, every day starts and ends with this.”
The well-known Russian opposition businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the richest man in Russia until his conviction and exile, lamented this Sunday that with the failure of the Wagner group uprising the opportunity for a change of government in Russia was lost, but he called to be ready for new riots.
“Thought with a cool head: a revolutionary situation took place yesterday. An uprising in Moscow could have changed power. We let the situation escape. But the regime weakened as a result of that, this is a plus,” he wrote on his channel Telegram.
In the same statement, the Russian opponent assured that “more situations like this will arise” and, therefore, “we must be more ready” for when they arrive.
