Vladimir Putin Vows To Crush Wagner Rebellion, Says 'Any Bid To Cause Internal Turmoil In Russia Will...'

In a televised address to the nation on Monday, Vladimir Putin claimed that the West and Kyiv wanted Russians to "kill each other."

Moscow: In the wake of Wagner Group's aborted mutiny, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a strong warning saying that any attempt at "blackmail or cause internal turmoil" in Russia would fail and claimed that the West and Kyiv wanted Russians to "kill each other."

Putin Addresses Nation

The rebellion by armed mercenaries on Saturday lasted less than 24 hours. In a televised address to the nation on Monday, Putin said that since the start of the events, steps were taken on his orders to avoid large-scale bloodshed, as he thanked the Russians for endurance and support, according to Al Jazeera.

"It was precisely this fratricide that Russia's enemies wanted: both the neo-Nazis in Kyiv and their Western patrons and all sorts of national traitors. They wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other," he said, adding "Any blackmail, attempts to cause internal turmoil are doomed to failure."

"From the start of the events, on my orders steps were taken to avoid large-scale bloodshed," Putin said, according to Al Jazeera.

The Russian President also said that he would keep his word and permit Wagner fighters to move to Belarus if they so desired, or continue serving Russia by entering into a contract with the Ministry of Defense or other law enforcement agencies, reported Al Jazeera.

Additionally, he thanked his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for serving as a mediator between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group, and Moscow.

March Was Not Meant To Overthrow Power: Wagner Group 

Meanwhile, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Monday said that the purpose of the march towards Moscow was to stop the destruction of Wagner's private military company and "bring to justice those who, through their unprofessional actions, made a huge number of mistakes during the special military operation". In an audio message released on Monday, he said that the march was a demonstration of protest and not intended to overthrow power.

Explaining his decision to turn around his march on Moscow, Prigozhin said he wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed. "We started our march because of an injustice. We went to demonstrate our protest and not to overthrow power in the country," Prigozhin said in an audio message, Al Jazeera reported.

He, however, did not share any details regarding where he was or what his future plans are.

In his new audio message, Prigozhin said that about 30 of his fighters died in the Russian army's attack on the mercenary group on Friday. He said the attack came days before Wagner was scheduled to leave its positions on June 30 and hand over equipment to the Southern Military District in Rostov.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said the march stopped when the detachment "made a reconnaissance of the area, and it was obvious that at that moment a lot of blood would be shed. We felt that demonstrating what we were going to do was sufficient", according to CNN.

He said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has extended his hand and offered to find solutions regarding further work of Wagner Private Military Company in a legal jurisdiction, CNN reported.

Prigozhin's actions come after he accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp and killing "a huge amount" of his fighters.
Russia's Ministry of Defence has denied his claim and termed it an "information provocation".