Putin held telephone conversations with the Emir of Qatar

Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone conversations with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Kremlin press service reported.

“The Qatari leader expressed support for the actions of the Russian leadership in connection with the events of June 24,” the statement said. In addition, the parties noted the “high level of Russian-Qatari cooperation” and confirmed “mutual interest in its further strengthening in various fields.”

June 22 in Moscow took place meeting between Putin and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman Al-Thani, where the parties discussed the development of bilateral relations in the field of trade, food security and energy, as well as the events of the Ukrainian crisis.

The next day, on the evening of June 23, the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a missile attack on one of the rear camps of a military company and blamed the army for this. The Ministry of Defense called these reports false and “information provocation.” Already on the morning of June 24, the PMC took control of the military facilities of Rostov-on-Don, after which it began to advance towards Moscow.

The FSB of Russia opened a criminal case on organizing an armed rebellion against Prigozhin, but after the situation was resolved following negotiations with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, it was decided to stop the case against the founder of the PMC.

During the weekend’s events, Putin also held telephone conversations with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. Contacts on the situation in Russia were also announced in the West – the White House in its press release said that US President Joe Biden discussed the attempted rebellion with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The British Prime Minister, in turn, had previously stated that “all parties should show responsibility and protect the lives of civilians.”