Putin: I let Wagner rebel for 24 hours.

Putin invited Wagner soldiers and their commanders, whom he called <x0patriot”, to join the military by signing contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry or other law enforcement agencies. He also gave them the opportunity to return to their families and friends if they wanted to or move to Belarus.

The Russian leader did not mention Wagner's chief, Yevgeny Pgozhin, who led the revolt. However, he said that organisers of this rebellion betrayed “their country, their people, betrayed those who withdrew to crime”.

He also said that through this revolt, the organisers gave Russian enemies what they wanted “for Russian soldiers to kill each other so that military personnel and civilians could be killed, in the end Russia would be lost... killed in a bloody civil clash”.

It took time, among other things, to give those who had made a mistake a chance to come to their senses, to realize that their actions were firmly rejected by society and that the adventure they were involved in was tragic and devastating, with consequences for Russia and our state”, he said.

The leader of the Wagner mercenary group defended his short-lived uprising in a proud audio statement Monday, while the Kremlin tried to project stability, with authorities publishing a Russian Defence Minister video by reviewing troops in Ukraine.

Yevgeny Pigozin said he was not seeking to organise a coup, but was acting to prevent the destruction of Wagner, his private military company. “We started our march because of an injustice,” he said in an 11-minute statement, not giving any details about where he was or what his plans were.

The dispute between Wagner Group leaders and the Russian military has been exasperated throughout the war, erupting in a weekend uprising when mercenaries fled Ukraine to invade a military headquarters in a southern Russian town. They marched seemingly uncontested for hundreds of miles towards Moscow before returning in less than 24 hours on Saturday.

Cremlin said he had made an agreement for Prygozyni to move to Belarus and receive amnesty, along with his soldiers. There was no confirmation of his whereabouts on Monday, although a prominent Russian news channel at Telegram reported that he was at a hotel in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

Prigozyn made fun of the Russian army on Monday, calling his march a “class master” of how Ukraine's invasion should have been carried out in February 2022. He also mocked the army that failed to protect the country, noting security violations that allowed Wagner to march 780km to Moscow without facing any resistance.

The proud statement did not make clear what would eventually happen to Prigozhin and his forces under the alleged agreement brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigozhin said only that Lukashenko “proposed finding solutions for the private Wagner military company to continue its work in a legal jurisdiction”. This suggests that Pgoxhin could retain his military force, though it was not immediately clear which jurisdiction he referred to.

The independent Russian news newspaper Vyorstka claimed that the construction of a field camp for up to 8,000 Wagner troops was being established in an area of Belarus about 200km north of the Ukrainian border.

Reporting could not be verified independently. The Belarusn military monitoring group Belaruski Hyun said on Monday in Telegram that he had not seen any activity in the area and that there were no indicators for Wagner convoys in motion towards Belarus or Belarus.

Although rebellion was brief, it was not without bloodshed. Russian media reported that several military helicopters and a communications plane were dropped by Wagner forces, killing at least 15 people. Pgozyni expressed regret over the attack on the plane, but said they were bombarding his forces.

Russian media reported that a criminal case against Pigozin has not been closed, despite earlier Kremlin statements, and some Russian lawmakers have demanded his head.

Andrei Gurulev, a retired general and current lawmakers who have had quarrels with the mercenary leader, said Pigozin and his right-hand arm Dmitry Utkin deserve a “bullet to the head”.

Nikita Yurefev, a member of the city council in St Petersburg, said he submitted an official request to Russia's Attorney General and Federal Security Service, asking who would be convicted of rebellion, given that Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in a speech Saturday morning to punish those behind her.

It was unclear what resources Prigozy can use and how much access he can have to his considerable wealth. According to Russian media reports confirmed by Wagner's boss, police found $48m in trucks outside the building while inspecting his office in St Petersburg in the middle of the rebellion.

Russian media reported that Wagner's offices in several Russian cities were reopened on Monday, and the company had resumed registering recruits.

Moscow Mayor announced the end of the “regime against terrorism” stationed in the capital on Saturday, when troops and armoured vehicles set up roadblocks on the outskirts and authorities blocked roads leading to the city.

The defence ministry published chief Sergei Shoigu's video in a helicopter and later the meeting with officers at a military headquarters in Ukraine. It's unclear when the video was caught. It came as Russian media speculated that Shoigu and other military leaders had lost Putin's trust and could be replaced.

Prior to the uprising, Prygozyni had attacked Minister Shoigu and Chief of General Staff General Valerry Gerasimov, with insults for months, accusing them of having failed to provide his troops with enough ammunition during the war for the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, the longest and bloodiest battle fight.

Prygozyni's statement appears to confirm the analysts' view that the revolt was a desperate move to save Wagner from dissolution following a order that all private military companies sign contracts with the Ministry of Defence by 1 July.

Prygozyni said most of his fighters refused to come under the command of the Ministry of Defence, and the force planned to deliver the military equipment he was using in Ukraine on June 30th after withdrawing from Ukraine and gathered in the southern Russian town of Rostov-Don. He accused the Ministry of Defence of attacking Wagner's camp, prompting them to move faster.

Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said on Twitter that Pgozhin's rebellion “was not an attempt to power or an attempt to get the Kremlin”, but a desperate move amid the escalation of divisions with Russian military leadership.

While Prigozhin could get out of the crisis, he does not have a political future in Russia under Putin, analyst Stanovaya said.

The United Kingdom Defence Ministry said on Monday that Ukraine had “made advances” about Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces claimed to have recovered the village of Rivnopil, southeast of Ukraine, where there was fierce fighting.

President Joe Biden and leaders of several Ukrainian European allies discussed events in Russia over the weekend, but Western officials have been silent in their public remarks.

President Biden said Monday that the US and NATO were not involved in the short-lived uprising. Speaking at the White House, President Biden explained he was careful to speak publicly, because he did not want to give “Putin any excuse to blame the West or NATO for the event”.

Secretary - General NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, agreed Monday that the weekend “events are a Russian internal issue”.

And Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said US Ambassador Lynne Tracy had contacted Russian representatives Saturday to stress that the US was not involved in the uprising.

Events show the war is “dividing Russia's political system”, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

The monster Putin created with Wagner is now biting”, Mr Borrell said. “The monster is acting against its creator”. / VOA