27 June 2023 , 11:36
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Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the "extreme danger" of Wagner's mutiny over the weekend.
On Saturday, the commander of the hardened mercenary kill squad Yevgeny Prigozhin gathered 25,000 of his killers and stormed the southern city of Rostov-on-Don before announcing they planned to march on the capital just 125 miles away.
The short-lived mutiny was over within a matter of hours, but the threat was severe enough for the Kremlin to shut down Moscow, pour soldiers on to the streets and send warplanes to Rostov.
And today, Putin introduced a minutes-silence for fallen Russian servicemen as he praised soldiers and law enforcement officers for averting "a civil war."
He again declared that the army and people didn't support the mutiny, but avoided mentioning Prigozhin by name.
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Head of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin left the Southern Military District headquarters on Saturday and is said to be joining troops at a base in Belarus (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Before the crowd went quiet, Putin acknowledged that the weekend's events were "extremely dangerous" as he thanked members of the Russian armed forces and the public for being united.
Putin claimed that the only reason the mutiny was squashed was thanks to the united Russia, but this was contrary to the hero's welcome that Wagner and his mercenaries received when they stormed Rostov on Saturday.
Rather than being heckled in the street and told to leave, locals came out in their droves to take selfies and chat with the professional soldiers - who were responsible for Russia's sole decisive victory in Bakhmut during the Ukraine war.
(AP)On Monday, Prigozhin defended his actions in a defiant audio statement. He again taunted the Russian military but said he hadn't been seeking to stage a coup against Putin.
In another show of projecting authority, the Kremlin showed Putin meeting Monday night with top security, law enforcement and military officials, including Shoigu, whom Prigozhin had sought to remove.
There was an unprecedented near attack at the weekend after Prigozhin threatened to march to Moscow (AP)Putin thanked his team for their work over the weekend, implying support for the embattled Shoigu. Earlier, the authorities released video of Shoigu reviewing troops in Ukraine.
It also wasn't clear whether he would be able to keep his mercenary force. In his speech, Putin offered Prigozhin's fighters to either come under Russia's Defense Ministry's command, leave service or go to Belarus.
Prigozhin said Monday, without elaborating, that the Belarusian leadership proposed solutions that would allow Wagner to operate "in a legal jurisdiction," but it was unclear what that meant.