Military personnel involved in countering Wagner private mercenary group’s short-lived mutiny saved country from civil war: Russian President

Moscow, June 27

Russian President Vladimir Putin today said military personnel involved in countering the Wagner private mercenary group’s short-lived mutiny over the weekend saved the country from civil war. Addressing military personnel gathered at the Kremlin’s Sobornaya Square, President Putin said, they have defended the constitutional order, lives, security, and freedom of our citizens, saved their motherland from shake-ups, and actually stopped a civil war.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a short-lived insurrection on Saturday that ended with an agreement for the Kremlin to drop criminal mutiny charges if he went into exile in neighboring Belarus.

Wagner troops took over the southwestern city of Rostov-on-Don and covered some 780 kilometers towards Moscow before abruptly aborting their march some 200 kilometers away from the Russian capital in a move that Wagner chief said was meant to prevent shedding Russian blood. Wagner aircraft shot down several military aircraft during their march toward Moscow, killing at least 10 pilots.

A minute of silence was held in memory of the Russian pilots killed during Wagner’s march toward Moscow. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attended the ceremony alongside 2,500 soldiers and members of the National Guard, the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service intelligence agency and the Federal Guard Service.