Vladimir Putin has said he is confident of being able to implement future plans in the war in Ukraine despite the Wagner rebellion. The leader broke his silence following the extraordinary events in Russia which seen armed mercenaries advancing on Moscow.
Putin stressed in his speech that his top priority remains the war in Ukraine. The Mirror reports Putin, 70, told state television outlets: "We feel confident, and, of course, we are in a position to implement all the plans and tasks ahead of us [in Ukraine].
"This also applies to the country's defence, it applies to the special military operation, it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas." Russia's Security Council is due to sit next week to discuss the weekend's chaos.
Putin previously stated that the attempted coup had put Russia's very existence at threat. His current location is unknown with both of his presidential planes fleeing Moscow yesterday.
Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin stopped his mercenaries 120 miles from Moscow to "avoid shedding Russian blood", in a surprise development yesterday. He posted a message on his Telegram channel stating he had agreed to stop his march on the Russian capital.
Prigozhin will move to Belarus and the Wagner boss and his fighters will be safe from prosecution under a deal brokered by the Belarusian president. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Alexander Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's agreement, because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years.
Prigozhin has since been pictured grinning and taking selfies with fans as he was apparently forced into "exile". The 62-year-old looked unfazed at the failure of his armed march on Moscow as he returned to the Wagner base of operations.
As his troops pulled out of Rostov, crowds chanted “Wagner! Wagner!”, as the men moved out of the town they had captured on the way to Moscow. The warlord was ferried through the streets in a black 4x4 stopping to take pics with smiling locals.
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