Russian President Vladimir Putin grimaces throughout his joint push conference with Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune (not pictured) at the Grand Kremlin Palace, June,15,2023, in Moscow, Russia.
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WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned the organizers of an armed mutiny about the weekend will be “brought to justice.”
The Russian president’s remarks ended up his first because hundreds of Wagner Team mercenaries marched on Moscow more than the weekend in what appeared to be an armed revolt from Russia’s army leadership.
“This is criminal activity, which is aimed at weakening the state. This was a colossal menace,” mentioned Putin in a televised handle to the country.
The mutiny took the planet by surprise, and catapulted a taboo query to center phase throughout Russia: Whether or not Putin’s grip on electricity could possibly not be as ironclad internally as it appears to be like from the outside.
Immediately after they took management of the southern metropolis of Rostov on Saturday, Wagner fighters and hundreds of armored automobiles came within 200 miles of Moscow before their chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, purchased them to flip back.
Prigozhin has reported his target was never to seize political command of the Kremlin and overthrow Putin, but alternatively to protest a prepared dissolution of his Wagner Group, his private army.
In exchange for his turning back, a legal situation versus Prigozhin was dropped and he was permitted to leave Russia for Belarus.
As of Monday afternoon, Prigozhin was believed to be remaining in a resort in Minsk that did not have any home windows, in accordance to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Kremlin reported late Saturday that Wagner mercenaries who participated in Prigozhin’s “wander” will not be prosecuted and will be offered the possibility to indicator contracts to be a part of the Russian army, ostensibly to return to the combat in Ukraine.
This is a acquiring story, please examine back for updates.