Putin denounces the “use” of Wagner’s “patriots” and offers them to go to Belarus

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has attributed the rebellion of the Wagner Group forces last Friday and Saturday to the fact that they were “used” and has stressed that the mercenaries of this organization can choose between signing contracts with the Ministry of Defense to continue fighting , lay down their arms or go to Belarus, where they would presumably be together with their leader, Yevgeni Prigozhin.

“We knew and we know that the vast majority of the fighters and commanders of the Wagner Group are Russian patriots, loyal to the people and the state. They have shown it with their courage on the battlefield” in Ukraine, Putin stressed in a televised speech. “They have tried to use them from the dark and pit them against their comrades in arms, with whom they have fought for the country and its future,” he added.

“Those who organized the rebellion with their betrayal of the country, its people, betrayed those who were dragged into crime. They lied to them, pushed them to death,” he lamented.

Putin has also stressed that “from the very beginning of everything” he himself gave “direct instructions” to “avoid great bloodshed.” “This took time and those who made a mistake had the option to think twice, to understand that their actions were being rejected by society and that they would have tragic, destructive consequences for Russia,” he explained.

In any case, Putin has stressed that “the rebellion would have been crushed.” “The organizers of the rebellion knew it despite their smugness. They understood everything, that they were perpetrating criminal acts, that they were dividing and weakening the country when it faced a colossal external threat, unprecedented pressure from abroad, when the front lines says ‘not one step back!’ while our comrades are dying,” he argued.

The Russian president has transferred his gratitude “to the soldiers and commanders of the Wagner Group who made the only correct decision.” “They did not launch into a fratricidal bloodshed. They stopped at the last line,” he stressed.

Putin has presented these Wagner members with three options: “continue to serve Russia by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense or other organizations or return to your family and friends.” “Whoever wants can go to Belarus. I will fulfill the promise I have made. I repeat it. The choice is yours, but I am sure it will be the choice of Russian soldiers who have realized their tragic mistake”, he has raised.

The Russian leader has also warned that “fratricide” was what Ukraine and its Western allies wanted. “Kievan neo-Nazis and their Western bosses and all sorts of national traitors… were rubbing their hands together,” he declared.

“They wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other, military and civilians to die so that in the end Russia would lose and our society would be divided, drowned in a bloody civil conflict,” he argued. “They dreamed of taking revenge for their failures at the front and in their supposed counter-offensive, but they have erred in their calculations,” he stressed.

Putin has also mentioned “the courage and sacrifice of the fallen pilot heroes who saved Russia from devastating consequences”, referring to the aircraft pilots shot down by Prigozhin’s forces.

On the other hand, Putin has thanked the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko “for his efforts and contribution to a peaceful resolution of the situation.”

Finally, Putin highlighted the “firm, unequivocal position in support of the constitutional order of public and religious organizations, the main political parties and the entire Russian society.” “Everyone was united and agreed on the most important thing: the responsibility for the destiny of the Homeland”, he stressed.

Likewise, he thanked the “resistance, solidarity and patriotism” of the population. “This civic solidarity has shown that any blackmail, any attempt to destabilize, is doomed to failure”, he highlighted.