By Anthony Marcus, correspondent for Eurasia Business News, June 26, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking in the Kremlin tonight, thanked the servicemen of the Russian forces for preserving civil peace and constitutional order, including the sacrifice of air force heroes killed during the fight against the armed mutiny.

The head of the Kremlin declared that “any blackmail is doomed to failure” and that “the protection of the constitutional order was made possible thanks to the unity of Russian society, forces and citizens of the country. The organizers of the armed mutiny have committed serious crimes while our comrades are being killed on the front.”

“From the very beginning of the events, all necessary decisions were made to neutralize the threat, to protect the constitutional order, the life and safety of our citizens. An armed rebellion would have been suppressed in any case,” said the Russian president.

“Shooting his own people is the work of traitors to the nation.”

« I stress that from the outset of the events, all necessary decisions were immediately taken to neutralize the threat that arose to protect the constitutional order, lives and security of our citizens. Vladimir Putin said in his address to the nation.

An armed mutiny, he said, “would have been suppressed anyway.”

The Russian president thanked “the commanders and fighters of the Wagner Group who refused to participate in the mutiny” from June 23 to 24.

“Fighters who wish to do so will be able to leave for Belarus.”

“Wagner’s ‘loyal’ fighters who wish to do so will be able to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, or return home or leave for Belarus.”

Vladimir Putin also thanked Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko for his mediation during the negotiations between the government.

The Russian President is now holding a working meeting with the participation of the heads of law enforcement agencies and security forces, said the press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, staged an armed rebellion on June 23-24, that threatened to reach Moscow. Prigozhin’s goal was to prevent the forced breakup of the Wagner Group, which he said had been decided upon. However, his insurrection failed through a combination of hot-headed ambition and his inability to read President Putin’s inner circle, of which he was a member, properly.

Wagner troops managed to quickly seize control of the southwest city of Rostov-on-Don, home of the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military Command, which has orchestrated the country’s war in Ukraine, without a fight. In the morning of June 24, President Putin attacked the Wagner chief’s actions as a “stab in the back” and vowed to quash the “rebellion”. Yevgeny Prigozhin then agreed to pull back his forces in a deal that allowed him and his troops to avoid prosecution. Prigozhin later released new audio claiming that his march on Moscow was a demonstration of protest, not intended to overturn power in the country, and that he wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed.

The true nature of the resolution to the crisis remains unknown, as is the Wagner chief’s future.

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