If the mutiny started by the Wagner Group private military company had not been suppressed, the enemy would have taken advantage of this, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"Chaos in the country would be inevitable, and the enemy, of course, would take advantage of this ... [the enemy] is trying to do so. But nothing works. I hope it does not work out. I am even sure of it. But for certain — they would have taken advantage," Putin said during a meeting with military personnel in the Kremlin.
On Friday, June 23, forces of the Wagner Group (PMC) seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, following accusations leveled against the Russian Ministry of Defense for allegedly striking the group's camps. Both the Russian military and the Federal Security Service have denied the allegations.
On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that he had spent the entire day negotiating with Yevgeny Prigozhin, as agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result of the talks, the Wagner group leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of his troops in Russia and take measures to de-escalate the situation.
Putin guaranteed that the Wagner group fighters would have the opportunity to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, return home, or move to Belarus.
Speaking about Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led the attempted mutiny on June 24, Vladimir Putin said that Prigozhin had earned over 80 billion rubles ($940 million) in a year from the state through military contracts.
"Despite the fact that the very maintenance of [PMC] Wagner was on the state, the owner of the Concord company [owned by Prigozhin] received and earned from the state through the military trade, he earned 80 billion rubles in a year supplying food and providing catering services to the military," Putin stressed.
The president also mentioned that the state had paid over 86 billion rubles to Wagner from May 2022 to May 2023.