MOSCOW, June 26 — Russian President Vladimir Putin today issued via the Kremlin website his first statement since an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, congratulating participants of an industrial forum.
It was not immediately clear when or where Putin’s statement was recorded.
Putin made a national address to the Russian people on Saturday condemning the mutiny by Wagner mercenaries as a “stab in the back” and vowing to crush it.
He has not commented publicly on the subsequent deal, announced late on Saturday, that appeared to defuse the crisis and avert possible bloodshed by allowing the Wagner fighters to return to base and their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to move to Belarus. — Reuters