Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin is still facing charges for his armed insurrection despite the Kremlin promising the charges against him would be dropped, according to state media.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to crush what he called a treasonous mutiny after Mr Prigozhin said his Wagner Group fighters had taken control of the southern city of Rostov and were heading to Moscow on what he said was a “march for justice” intended to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders.
Under a deal mediated by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko that defused the crisis late on Saturday, the Kremlin said a criminal case against Mr Prigozhin would be dropped and he would move to Belarus.
His fighters would return to base and would also face no legal action, the Kremlin said.
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However, Ria Novosti, Russia’s main state news service, on Monday cited a source in the prosecutor-general’s office saying the charges had not been dropped.
Kommersant, a Russian business newspaper, also reported that the FSB, Russia’s main security service, was still investigating Mr Prigozhin, who has not been seen or heard from since he drove away from the southern army headquarters in Rostov, and said “not enough time has passed to take another decision”.
Russia’s TASS and Interfax new agencies also reported that the criminal case remained open and that the investigation was continuing.
The timing of the reports on Monday morning appeared to indicate co-ordinated messaging by the Kremlin.
Earlier on Monday, Russia released images of defence minister Sergei Shoigu visiting troops, the first time he has been pictured in public since Wagner’s move against the country’s senior military leadership.
A brief video posted by the defence ministry showed Mr Shoigu inspecting a Russian command point and listening to a report from subordinates about the progress of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russia has released footage of Sergei Shoigu for the first time since the Wagner group tried to oust him. However, the time of the video could not be verified.
It has not been confirmed when or where the video was taken. Rybar, a social media channel run by a former defence ministry press secretary, said the video appeared to have been filmed during Mr Shoigu’s visit to the Belgorod region, on the border with Ukraine, before the Wagner revolt.
Speculation has swirled that Mr Putin had agreed to remove Mr Shoigu as part of a deal with Mr Prigozhin to end the uprising, though the Kremlin has denied this.
The video may be an attempt to portray a return to business as usual just two days after Wagner paramilitaries marched most of the way to Moscow and killed at least a dozen Russian troops.
The defence ministry said on Monday that Mr Shoigu had received a report about “the current situation, [the] nature of the enemy’s activities and fulfilment of the [army’s] combat tasks in the main tactical directions” from Yevgeny Nikiforov, commander of Russia’s Western Military District.
Mr Shoigu praised the army for its “high effectiveness” and ordered it to “uncover the enemy’s plans and stop them from being realised”.
[ Mystery surrounds Wagner chief’s whereabouts and details of deal to end uprising ]
[ Wagner revolt shows Putin’s grip on power weakening ]
Confusion over the weekend’s extraordinary events has left governments, both friendly and hostile to Moscow, groping for answers to what could happen next in a country that has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken suggested the turmoil could take months to play out.
“We’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade,” Mr Blinken told NBC’s Meet the Press programme on Sunday.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko held talks in Beijing on “international” issues on Sunday. It was unclear if his visit to his country’s strongest ally was precipitated by the Wagner mutiny.
“The Chinese side expressed support for the efforts of the leadership of the Russian Federation to stabilise the situation in the country in connection with the events of June 24 and confirmed its interest in strengthening the cohesion and further prosperity of Russia,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Beijing’s response was characteristically measured. China’s foreign ministry issued a statement vouching support for Russia’s efforts to maintain national stability and referring to the recent tensions in the country as Russia’s “internal affairs”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed the events in Russia in separate phone calls with US president Joe Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Mr Biden and Mr Trudeau both expressed their ongoing support of Ukraine as it pursues a counteroffensive to recover territory seized by Russia, according to official statements.
“The world must put pressure on Russia until international order is restored,” Mr Zelenskiy said on Twitter.
I spoke with 🇺🇸 President @POTUS. A positive and inspiring conversation.
We discussed the course of hostilities and the processes taking place in Russia. The world must put pressure on Russia until international order is restored.
I thanked the @POTUS for the unflagging… — Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 25, 2023
Mr Putin said he was giving top priority to the conflict in Ukraine in excerpts from an interview aired by state television on Sunday that appeared to have been recorded before the mutiny.
State television said Mr Putin would attend a meeting of Russia’s security council this coming week, without elaborating, and Belarus’ Belta news agency said Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko spoke again on Sunday, after at least two calls on Saturday.
In a televised address during Saturday’s drama, Mr Putin said the rebellion put Russia’s very existence under threat, vowing to punish those behind the revolt and drawing parallels with the chaos of 1917 that had led to the Bolshevik revolution.
Yevgeny Prigozhin (right), the owner of the Wagner Group military company, sits inside a military vehicle posing for a selfie with a local civilian on a street in Rostov-on-Don in Russia. Photograph: AP
A former Putin ally and ex-convict whose forces have fought the bloodiest battles of the 16-month war in Ukraine, Mr Prigozhin said his decision to advance on Moscow was intended to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war.
This month, Mr Prigozhin defied orders to place his troops under defence ministry command. He launched the rebellion on Friday after alleging the military had killed some of his men in an air strike. The defence ministry denied this.
Wagner, whose men in Ukraine include thousands of ex-prisoners recruited from Russian jails, has grown into a sprawling international business with mining interests and fighters in Africa and the Middle East.
In excerpts from an interview aired by Russian state television on Sunday that appeared to have been recorded before the mutiny, Mr Putin said he was giving top priority to the conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia’s TASS news agency reported on Monday that 30 Ukrainian artillery position and 20 mortar crews had been suppressed in fighting near Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region. The Russian military, according to RIA, also denied Ukrainian claims to have made advances on the flanks of Bakhmut, the city that Wagner fighters helped Russia seize in May.
Giving its daily morning roundup on Monday, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russian forces had conducted unsuccessful operations around Bakhmut.
Ukrainian forces has reclaimed some 130 sq km along the southern front line since the beginning of their counteroffensive but there had been little significant change in the past week, Ukraine deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar told the national broadcaster on Monday.
Serhiy Nayev, commander of Ukraine’s Joint Forces responded to speculative reports that Wagner fighters could be moved to Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north.
“If this happens and the enemy tries to cross the state border, it will be nothing but a suicide for them,” Mr Nayev said in a post on the military’s Telegram account. – Reuters
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