What Putin said in his address following the military mutiny

President Vladimir Putin said that the fighters and commanders of the Wagner group would be able to conclude contracts with the Armed Forces or other special services, or, if they decide to do so, go to Belarus. The President stated this in his video message to the Russians. It was broadcast by several TV channels at once.

At the beginning of his speech, he thanked the citizens for “restraint, solidarity and patriotism.” According to Putin, civic solidarity has shown that “any blackmail, any attempt to create internal turmoil is doomed to failure.”

The President stressed that public organizations, religious denominations, leading political parties, “virtually the entire Russian society” came out in support of the constitutional order.

Putin said that all the necessary decisions to neutralize the threat were taken “immediately.”

“An armed rebellion would have been suppressed in any case. The organizers of the rebellion, despite the loss of adequacy, could not fail to understand this. They all understood, including that they went to criminal acts, to split and weaken the country, which is now confronting a colossal external threat, unprecedented pressure from outside. When at the front with the words “not a step back!” our comrades are dying,” the president said.

The head of state repeated the thesis from his June 24 address that the organizers of the rebellion had betrayed their people and their country, and added that Russia’s enemies wanted just such an outcome – fratricide. “We wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other, so that military personnel and civilians would die, so that in the end Russia would lose, and our society would split, choke in bloody civil strife,” he stressed.

Separately, the president thanked the military, law enforcement officers, and special services, “who got in the way of the rebels.” He also emphasized the self-sacrifice of the dead pilots.

At the same time, the president said that the vast majority of the fighters and commanders of the Wagner group “are also Russian patriots, devoted to their people and state,” which they proved by their participation in the special operation. “Therefore, from the very beginning of the events, on my direct instructions, steps were taken to avoid a lot of bloodshed. This took time, including to give those who made a mistake a chance to change their minds, to understand that their actions are strongly rejected by society, and to what tragic, destructive consequences for Russia, for our state, the adventure into which they were dragged leads” , Putin said.

He thanked the fighters and commanders of the Wagner group, who did not go to “fratricidal bloodshed.” “Today you have the opportunity to continue serving Russia by entering into a contract with the Ministry of Defense or other law enforcement agencies, or to return to your family and friends. Whoever wants to can go to Belarus. The promise I made will be fulfilled,” Putin said. The President of Russia also thanked the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for his contribution to the peaceful resolution of the situation (he acted as an intermediary in negotiations with Yevgeny Prigozhin).

On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner PMC, accused the Ministry of Defense of attacking the company’s rear camps. The military department denied the information and called it a provocation. The FSB opened a criminal case against Prigozhin on armed rebellion. On June 24, Wagner took control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and blocked the city, and also sent fighters towards Moscow.

On the evening of June 24, after negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin announced that he had decided to stop the movement towards Moscow and return to the rear camps of PMCs. After that, the Kremlin said that an agreement was reached that the criminal case against Prigozhin would be dropped, and he himself would move to Belarus.

After Putin’s speech on television, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the head of state would hold a meeting with the security forces.