dpa
(TNS)
Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his thanks to the Russian security forces and population for opposing the weekend mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, in an address broadcast on state television.
“I thank all the soldiers and intelligence service staff who stood in the way of the mutineers,” Putin said. He added that everything possible had been done on his orders to avoid bloodshed. “That needed time,” he said. “The armed mutiny would also have been put down in this way.”
He also thanked Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko for mediating with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is now thought to be in Belarus after calling off the group’s advance on Moscow.
Putin offered the Wagner group the option of serving with the Russian military. All attempts to sow chaos in Russia were destined to fail, he said. “The organizers of the mutiny, who betrayed the country, also betrayed those who were on their side,” he said.
A video circulating on social media purports to show Russian soldiers executing a “mutineer.”
The video features two soldiers -their faces blurred out- executing a “pro-Wagner paratrooper” by slashing his throat with a knife.
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