On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin expressed his gratitude to the servicemen who prevented a “civil war” during the rebellion of the Wagner paramilitary group, stressing that this situation did not lead to the transfer of Russian soldiers deployed in Ukraine.
During a ceremony in Moscow, Putin stated that the servicemen, together with their comrades-in-arms, opposed unrest that otherwise would have inevitably led to chaos. He thanked the military for averting a civil war and called for a minute’s silence in honor of the pilots who lost their lives while honorably performing their duty.
In addition, Putin pointed out that neither the Russian military nor the Russian population supported the armed rebellion of the Wagner group. In his words, those involved in the rebellion realized that the army and the people were not on their side.
This contradicts the claims of the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who claimed the opposite and received the support of some people in Rostov, where the group’s fighters occupied the military headquarters.
Finally, Putin stated that the Russian army did not have to deploy any soldiers present on Ukrainian territory to deal with the rebellion. According to his statements, it was not necessary to withdraw combat units from the area of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Summing up, Putin expressed his gratitude to the military for preventing a civil war during the rebellion of the Wagner group and stressed that the Russian military did not have to withdraw soldiers deployed in Ukraine to deal with the situation.