Putin says Russia would have crushed rebellion, vows 'justice' for mutiny organizers

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday the organizers of an equipped mutiny implicit the play volition beryllium "brought to justice" and that his subject would person enactment down the rebellion anyway.

The Russian president's comments were his archetypal since hundreds of Wagner Group mercenaries, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, marched connected Moscow implicit the play successful what appeared to beryllium an equipped rebellion against Russia's subject leadership.

"This is transgression activity, which is aimed astatine weakening the country. This was a colossal threat," said Putin successful a televised code to the nation.

In speech for his turning back, a transgression lawsuit against Prigozhin was dropped and helium was permitted to permission Russia for Belarus. As of Monday afternoon, Prigozhin was believed to beryllium staying successful a edifice successful Minsk that did not person immoderate windows, according to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., president of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The mutiny took the satellite by surprise, and catapulted a taboo question to halfway signifier crossed Russia: Whether Putin's grip connected powerfulness mightiness not beryllium arsenic ironclad internally arsenic it looks from the outside.

On Monday, Putin said immoderate "armed rebellion would person been enactment down anyway."

After they took power of the confederate metropolis of Rostov connected Saturday, Wagner fighters and hundreds of armored vehicles came wrong 200 miles of Moscow earlier Prigozhin ordered them to crook back.

In his code Monday, Putin thanked those progressive successful the mutiny "who made the lone close determination - they did not spell to fratricidal bloodshed, they stopped astatine the past line."

He past said Wagner Group soldiers would beryllium permitted to articulation the Russian army, to permission the state for neighboring Belarus, arsenic Prigozhin did, oregon simply "to instrumentality to your household and friends."

Putin's determination to assistance unilateral clemency to the Wagner mercenaries seemed retired of quality to immoderate Russia scholars, coming arsenic it did from an autocratic ruler who regularly jails civilians for publically criticizing his administration.

Prigozhin has said his extremity was ne'er to prehend governmental power of the Kremlin and overthrow Putin, but alternatively to protestation a planned dissolution of his Wagner Group, his backstage army.