Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned leaders of the Wagner mercenary group as traitors to Russia in a late-night speech to the nation, his first public comments since the mutiny that posed the most serious threat to his nearly quarter-century rule.
“The organizers of the rebellion betrayed their country and their people, and betrayed those who were dragged into the crime, lied to them, pushed them to death under fire,” Putin said, without mentioning anyone by name. He spoke hours after Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said he wasn’t trying to oust Putin’s government but would keep his mercenary company going despite official efforts to shut it down. Putin’s comments did little to clarify the mystery around the weekend’s events or the fate of Prigozhin, who the Kremlin said had agreed to go to Belarus and avoid prosecution as part of the deal to pull his forces back brokered by that country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko. Putin held a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and heads of the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service, the Russian National Guard and the Investigative Committee, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after the president’s address.
In his speech, Putin said Ukraine and its allies in the West had been “rubbing their hands” at the prospect of infighting in Russia. The U.S. and Europe have said they sought to make clear to Moscow they weren’t involved in the weekend’s events. In his speech, Putin addressed Wagner fighters, saying they could join the regular military, go home or relocate to Belarus. “The promise I made will be fulfilled,” he said.
It wasn’t clear what that meant for Prigozhin himself, however. State media reported earlier Monday that the criminal case against him opened at the start of the crisis still hasn’t been closed. The mercenary chief said the march on Moscow by Wagner troops to within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the capital on Saturday was a protest aimed at bringing to account those responsible for “enormous mistakes” in Russia’s war in Ukraine as well as to prevent the “destruction” of his private army by officials.