Vladimir Putin posed on Monday, June 26, as the guarantor of internal peace in Russia, ensuring that he had avoided a bloodbath, during his first public statement since the brief rebellion of Wagner, which his leader Yevgueni Prigojine justified to save the paramilitary group and not to seize power.
“From the beginning of the events, measures were taken on my direct instructions in order to avoid a great bloodshed,” said the Russian president in a short televised address to the nation, accusing Ukraine and the West to wish for “such a fratricidal outcome”. Shortly before, his American counterpart Joe Biden had, conversely, assured that Westerners were “not involved” and had “nothing to do with these events”, described as “internal problem in Russia”.
Wagner Rebellion: Putin congratulates himself on having “avoided bloodshed”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also thanked the Russians for their “resilience, their unity and their patriotism” which showed that “any blackmail […] is doomed to failure”. As for Wagner’s fighters, he offered them to sign a contract with the regular army, to “return to their families and relatives” or “to go to Belarus”, allied country where their boss Evgueni Prigojine must go into exile, according to the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin was speaking two days after an armed rebellion by Wagner led by Yevgeny Prigojine, who assured him that his objective in sending his men to march towards Moscow was to save his group threatened with destruction by his rival in the Ministry of Defense, and not to seize power.
Wagner’s Rebellion: US ambassador assured Moscow that Washington was “not involved”
The US ambassador to Moscow contacted Russian authorities directly over the weekend to assure them that the United States was “not involved” in the failed Wagner Group rebellion in Russia and Washington also raised nuclear security issues , the State Department and the White House said Monday. “We were able to have real-time, diplomatic conversations with Russian officials about our concerns” in terms of international security and control of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, said John Kirby, spokesman for the Security Council. national security.
“We had good direct communication with the Russians over the weekend,” he also said, even as tensions between Washington and Moscow are at their highest since the start of the war in Ukraine. US Ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy, as well as US officials who contacted the Russian Embassy in Washington, for their part assured on Saturday that “the United States (was) not and will not be involved” in the events that have shaken Russia, US Foreign Affairs spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Putin thanks his security officials for their work during the rebellion
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday thanked state security officials for their work during the aborted armed rebellion of the Wagner Group, at the start of a meeting, a short segment of which was broadcast on television.
“I have brought you together to thank you for the work accomplished during these few days and to discuss the situation”, declared Vladimir Putin during this meeting which was held in the presence of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu but in the absence of the chief of staff Valéri Guerassimov, the two declared enemies of the chief of Wagner, Evgueni Prigojine.
Monday June 26, “a happy day” for Zelensky
In his June 26 address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces had advanced in all areas along the front lines where the country is carrying out offensive operations. “Today our soldiers have made progress in all areas, and it is a happy day. I wish them more such days.”
Russia says it intercepted two British fighters over the Black Sea
Russia said Monday it had taken off two of its warplanes to meet two British fighters which it said were approaching its border over the Black Sea. “As the Russian fighters approached, the foreign warplanes turned around and moved away from the border of Russia,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. According to him, they were two British Army Typhoon fighters accompanied by an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.
“The Russian planes returned safely to their original airfield. There was no violation of the Russian border,” the ministry added. This type of incident involving Russian and Western aircraft has multiplied in recent months over the Black Sea but also the Baltic, against a backdrop of conflict in Ukraine. At the end of May, Moscow announced that it had intercepted four American strategic bombers over the Baltic in two different incidents in the space of a week.
Tennis: Russian Kasatkina worried about the “brothel” in Russia
Russian tennis player, Daria Kasatkina, the 11th player in the world, expressed her concern over the unstable political situation in Russia on Monday after her victory in the first round of the WTA Eastbourne tournament over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina. The latter did not shake hands with Kasatkina after losing in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, on the grass of Eastbourne, just as Elina Svitolina had refused to do at Roland-Garros.
But Kasatkina, who has repeatedly taken a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had already expressed his understanding for this attitude. Asked after the match about the failed rebellion of the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Evgueni Prigojine, last weekend, Kasatkina did not, as often, mince words. “What I feel is shit, honestly. I’m not going to hide it” “My family, my parents are still in Russia. As you could see, the last few days it’s been a big mess there too,” she said, while again emphasizing that Ukrainians are “much worse off.”