Vladimir Putin has said that the leaders of an alleged mutiny want Russia to “drown in blood” after an armed rebellion over the weekend was aborted less than 24 hours after it began.
In an address to the nation on Monday night, Putin said that those who had plotted the rebellion by Wagner forces had “miscalculated”.
He made no mention of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief who instigated the rebellion and issued a stinging criticism of the Russian army and Putin’s rule.
Russia was plunged into crisis on Saturday after Wagner forces left Ukraine and began to move hundreds of miles towards Moscow on a “march for justice”. It followed a bitter, long-running feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s military brass.
In his first appearance since the rebellion ended, Putin blamed “Russia's enemies” for stoking the rebellion and thanked the mercenaries for not letting the situation deteriorate into “bloodshed”.
“I thank Wagner soldiers and commanders who did not shed blood - you can sign a contract with the Ministry of Defence, or move to Belarus,” he said.
His comments came hours after Prigozhin said he “didn’t want to overthrow the government” in his first spoken comments since launching the alleged mutiny.
In an audio statement issued on Monday evening, Prigozhin denied trying to attack the Russian state and said he acted in response to an attack on his force that killed some 30 of his fighters.
Prigozhin later agreed to halt the march towards the capital under a deal brokered by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
“We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government of the country,” Prigozhin said in an 11-minute audio.
“Our march showed many things we discussed earlier: the serious problems with security in the country.”
He did not offer any details about where he was or what his future plans are.
In his statement, Prigozhin also taunted the Russian military, calling his march a “master class” on how it should have carried out the invasion of Ukraine. He mocked the Russian military for failing to protect the country, pointing out security breaches that allowed Wagner to march 780km without facing resistance and block all military units on its way.
“Cracks are emerging in Russian support for the war,” he told parliament on Monday.
“This weekend’s events show that it is Ukraine and its partners, not Russia, that have the strategic patience and resolve to prevail.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the most important of aspect of Prigozhin's challenge to the Moscow leadership was that he “directly challenged the narrative for war”.
Speaking at the Rusi conference, he said it was important the “Russian people get to hear the truth and Mr Prigozhin's words did that”.
Mr Wallace warned: “We shouldn't necessarily over-credit the destabilisation, that somehow this is a massive derailment of the Kremlin”.
The Wagner Group, he said, was now “spent, done, dissipated”.
It shows, he said, how "stretched Russia's reserves are, but it mustn't distract from the main mission” of supporting Ukraine.
“It was just another of the cracks we have been seeing in public discourse,” he added.
Russia’s three main news agencies reported on Monday that a criminal case against Prigozhin had not been closed, despite an offer of immunity having been publicised as part of the deal that persuaded him to stand down.
Moscow's mayor announced an end to a “counter-terrorism regime” imposed on the capital on Saturday when troops and armoured vehicles set up checkpoints on the outskirts and authorities tore up roads leading into the city.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Monday denied that the United States and its allies were involved in the brief uprising.
“We made clear we were not involved, we had nothing to do with this,” he said.
Mr Biden said he spoke with key allies on a video conference to make sure everyone was on the same page and coordinated in their response.
“They agreed with me that we had to make sure that we gave (Russian President Vladimir) Putin no excuse - gave Putin no excuse - to blame this on the West and blame this on NATO,” he said.
