Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a TV address to the nation on Monday after Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted mutiny on Saturday. He said, the steps were taken to avoid major bloodshed during the rebellion, but it took time. He also accused the organizers of the mutiny of wanting Russian society to "drown in blood" Putin delivered a five-minute televised speech moments which his spokesman had claimed would change the course of Russian history The pre-recorded speech mostly repeated what he said over the weekend and claimed that Russian society had rallied around his leadership, choosing him over the Wagner group. He accused the West of fomenting the "mutiny" that took place at the weekend and praised Russia for its "unity". Putin said the West and Ukraine wanted Russians to "kill each other'" and warned that any attempt at blackmail or unrest in Russia was "doomed to fail". "This civic solidarity has shown that any blackmail and attempts to arrange internal unrest are doomed to failure. "I repeat — the highest consolidation of society, executive and legislative power was shown at all levels," the president told Russians. Putin added that "a firm, unequivocal position of support for the constitutional order was taken by public organizations, religious denominations, leading political parties — in fact, by the entire Russian society." He also said he would keep his promise to allow Wagner troops to go to Belarus, adding that "the overwhelming majority" of the mercenaries in Wagner were Russian patriots. Putin didn't make any mention of Prigozhin after the Wagner group's leader spoke out for the first time earlier since his failed mutiny on Saturday. Prigozhin agreed to leave Russia for Belarus after calling off his troops — his current whereabouts are unknown. The head of the Wagner group recorded an 11-minute audio message after leading Saturday's mutiny. In it he says his men headed to Moscow to "hold to account" those leaders he blamed for "mistakes" in the Ukraine war. He denied his "march for justice" was aimed at toppling Russian President Putin. Putin, in his speech, used a word in Russian that means "upheaval" in an effort to scare his people into rallying around his leadership, said Johns Hopkins University Prof Sergey Radchenko. "He is saying there could be an upheaval or a civil war," he said, adding that Putin is saying that "it is great" that Russian people indicated their support for his regime over the weekend. "He is playing on Russian fears of uncertainty in order to try to shore up his authority, but there is no doubt his authority has been severely undermined," Radchenko told the BBC. He said the obvious subtext of the speech was: "If it wasn't for me, you'd have chaos every day." Radchenko also said Putin's words seem to suggest that Wagner will no longer be allowed to operate in Russia. Earlier, it was reported that Putin had held a meeting with the heads of Russian security services, Russian media said. Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu is also said to have attended the meeting. Prigozhin had demanded Shoigu be sacked before he started his march towards Moscow on Saturday. Putin thanked the nation for unity, adding that all necessary decisions to neutralize threat were taken at the very beginning, and "the mutiny would have been suppressed anyway, organizers realized their actions were criminal". He went on to thank all security services "who stayed loyal to their oath" as well as pilots who died. He added that steps were taken to avoid major bloodshed, "but it took time". "I thank Wagner soldiers and commanders who did not shed blood — you can sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, or move to Belarus," he said. He thanked Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko for his efforts to resolve the situation peacefully, but he said it was society's unity that played the decisive role. In Washington, US officials have confirmed that Russian and American diplomats spoke directly on Saturday. The US emphasized to Moscow that Washington was not involved in stoking up tensions between Wagner and the Kremlin, officials are saying. "There were appropriate diplomat discussions that occurred over the weekend," said White House spokesman John Kirby without specifying at what level talks occurred. He added Washington views the tensions with Wagner "as internal Russian matters" and has not taken a side. Biden remains focused on supporting Ukraine, rather than meddling in Russia, and spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, Kirby continued. "We're not involved and have no intention of being involved," he said about the current situation in Russia. What we are involved with is supporting Ukraine." At the Department of State, spokesman Matthew Miller said the communications involved the US ambassador to Russia as well as "at other levels here in Washington". Two messages were sent, he said. The first was that the US expects Russia to protect US diplomatic personnel in Moscow and the second was to emphasize that "this is an internal Russian affair, that in which the United States is not involved and will not be involved". — BBC
