Putin broke the silence after the coup attempt: they miscalculated

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the nation for its show of solidarity after an armed uprising was put down less than 24 hours after it began over the weekend.

Hours earlier, the mercenary boss defended his short-lived rebellion in a boastful statement.

In his first appearance since the end of the uprising, Putin thanked most of the mercenaries for not allowing the situation to “bleed out”.

The Russian president said that all necessary measures have been taken to protect the country and its people from insurgency.

He accused “enemies of Russia” and said they had “miscalculated”.

The Kremlin also tried to project stability on Monday when officials released a video of Russia’s defense minister reviewing troops in Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenary group, argued that he was not seeking a coup, but was acting to prevent the destruction of his private military company, Wagner.

“We started our march because of an injustice,” he said in an 11-minute statement, giving no details about where he was or what his plans were.

The dispute between the head of the Wagner group and Russia’s military elite escalated during the war and erupted into riots at the weekend when mercenaries left Ukraine to seize military headquarters in the southern Russian city.

They advanced unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow before turning back less than 24 hours later on Saturday.

The Kremlin said Prigozhin made a deal with his soldiers to travel to Belarus and receive amnesty.

His whereabouts were not confirmed on Monday, although a popular Russian news channel on Telegram reported that Prigozhin was staying at a hotel in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

Prigozhin mocked the Russian military on Monday, calling its march a “master class” in how it should have conducted the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

He mocked the army for failing to protect Russia and pointed to security breaches that allowed Wagner to advance 780 kilometers toward Moscow without encountering resistance.

The upbeat statement did not make clear what would ultimately happen to Prigozhin and his forces under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigogine only said that Lukashenko “proposed a solution for the Wagner private military company to continue its work under legal jurisdiction.” It suggested that Prigozhin could retain his military strength, although it is now unclear which jurisdiction he was referring to.

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