The president has not been seen in public since he denounced the mutiny as “treason”. (File)
An eerie calm fell over Russia after the dramatic end of an armed insurrection that posed the greatest threat to Vladimir Putin’s nearly quarter-century reign.
The man who led the uprising has become unusually quiet. The president has not been seen in public since he denounced the mutiny as “treason” and threatened “severe” punishment that never materialized.
In a mind-boggling 24 hours, a transfixed international public watched troops loyal to Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin advance hundreds of miles toward Moscow at breakneck speed, then suddenly broke off the attack and agreed to go into exile, with all charges dropped at a late stage. night deal.
The fast-paced chain of events left the US and Europe confused about the political implications of an uprising that shattered Vladimir Putin’s invincible image as Russia’s leader. The crisis unfolded amid bitter divisions in Russia over the faltering war in Ukraine, Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, as a Ukrainian counter-offensive continues to try to drive Russian troops out of occupied territories.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Wagner mercenary group’s insurgency was a “direct challenge” to President Putin’s authority and “raises profound questions,” in an interview Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “We can’t speculate or know exactly where that will go. We do know that Putin has a lot more to answer for in the coming weeks and months.”
According to a person familiar with the matter, the US had information a few days ago that Prigozhin was planning to take armed action against Russian defense officials.
In China, which has tightened ties with President Putin and refused to join US-led sanctions over the war, Foreign Minister Qin Gang met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing on Sunday to discuss international and to discuss regional issues of common concern, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu also met Rudenko on Sunday, vowing to defend the two countries’ common interests in the “complex and grim” international environment. Chinese state media had covered the uprising in Russia, while the Global Times published an article by former editor-in-chief Hu Xijin analyzing possible scenarios, including regime change.
The Chinese side expressed its support for the Russian leadership’s efforts to stabilize the situation in the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.
Even North Korea seemed concerned. Deputy Foreign Minister Im Chon Il, speaking with the Russian ambassador, “expressed firm belief that the recent armed uprising in Russia would be successfully crushed,” North Korea’s Central News Agency reported.
‘Security guarantees’
Vladimir Putin, 70, has not commented on the deal brokered by his ally Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that ended Prigozhin’s uprising. The Kremlin said President Putin guaranteed he would allow the Wagner leader to travel to Belarus and drop mutiny charges against him and fighters involved in the uprising.
“Putin had to make concessions and actually surrender, and instead of defeating Prigozhin, he had to negotiate with him and give security guarantees, publicly demonstrating his vulnerability,” said Kirill Rogov, a former Russian government adviser who now heads state of Re:Russia. a Vienna-based think tank. “Previously, Putin absolutely did not allow anyone to speak to him in the language of public ultimatums.”
Prigozhin’s whereabouts are unknown and he has not commented since announcing in an audio message on Telegram late Saturday that his troops were withdrawing to avoid bloodshed. Video posted on social media showed crowds cheering and shaking his hand as he was chased away from a military installation in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don that Wagner had taken over early in the mutiny.
President Putin thanked Lukashenko in a phone call late Saturday for leading the negotiations and reaching the deal, Belarus’ state news service Belta reported.
Russia began lifting emergency restrictions to try and quickly restore a sense of normalcy. Hastily placed roadblocks were dismantled on highways leading to Moscow on Sunday, though authorities said Monday will remain a day off, announced by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin after imposing a “counter-terrorism regime” in the capital.
Trading on the Moscow Exchange will continue as normal on Monday, the Bank of Russia said in a statement
Regional officials in Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh and Lipetsk reported that Wagner forces had left their territories and were heading for their field bases.
Wagner calls Advance back
The deal was announced just hours after Vladimir Putin told Russians on state television that those who took part in the uprising had “betrayed Russia and will answer for it”. The decision not to prosecute Prigozhin and his men for treason stood in stark contrast to the zeal with which authorities have imposed long prison terms on people for even minor peaceful protests against the war.
Wagner chief marches on Moscow in mutiny defying Putin
Wagner’s founder has spent months attacking Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and top military officials in Moscow over the course of the war, claiming they attacked Wagner forces fighting in Ukraine and particularly during battles for the eastern Ukrainian city. Bakhmut, not sufficiently supported.
He has also repeatedly called on the Kremlin to take tougher measures, including full mobilization and martial law, warning that without them Russia risked defeat in the war.
What is the Russian Wagner group and why was it accused of mutiny?
Tensions erupted on Friday when 62-year-old Prigozhin posted audio messages to Telegram promising to “punish” the Defense Ministry for what he claimed was a missile attack on a Wagner base and the losses of “tens of thousands” of Russian troops in the war . He accused Sergei Shoigu of attempting to “destroy” Wagner. The Defense Ministry denied Prigozhin’s claims of a strike.
The confrontation has resonance in Russian history, where leaders including Tsar Nicholas II and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev were deposed after military setbacks. President Putin himself, in his televised speech, drew a comparison to the divisions in Russia during World War I that led to the Bolshevik Revolution and civil war of 1917.
In Voronezh, a city of 1 million, shocked residents tried to cope with the unrest. “What seemed impossible yesterday is suddenly in your life today,” said 46-year-old Petr, a local car dealer who did not want to be identified out of concern for his safety.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
