Wagner’s spectacular advance on Moscow during his Saturday’s volatile uprising reveals “serious security concerns” in Russia, The head of this group of mercenaries, Yevgueni Prigozhin, said so on Monday, noting that his men had covered 780 km and met little resistance.

The uprising of Prigozhin, a billionaire once an ally of the Russian leader Vladimir Putinlasted 24 hours and ended on Saturday.

On June 24, anti-terrorism measures were taken in Moscow and other regions of Russia after the head of the Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, alleged that his forces had occupied the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov. -on-Don, demands a meeting with the Russian defense chiefs.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkoa Putin’s loyal allynegotiated an agreement with Wagner’s boss Prigozhin to stop the movement of the group’s fighters in Russia, the press service of the president of Belarus reported. Negotiations would have lasted all day. Prigozhin announced that Wagner’s fighters were returning to their camps.

Security problems in Russia

After several hours of silence, Yevgeny Prigozhin denied in an audio message on Monday that he wanted to seize power in Russia, justifying his aborted uprising because he wanted to save his organization and highlight the “serious security problems” in the country.

For their part, Russian authorities on Monday made every effort to present an image of normality despite the heavy blow the attempted uprising inflicted on President Vladimir Putin’s image, in the midst of a counter-offensive in Ukraine.

“The march has revealed serious security concerns in the country,” Prigozhin said in his first audio message since ordering the uprising ended on Saturday night, without disclosing his current location.

The businessman stated that his fighters were advancing towards the capital and stopped “200 kilometers from Moscow”.

West denies involvement

Westerners “had nothing to do” with the failed uprising of the leader of the Wagner group in Russia this weekend, US President Joe Biden told reporters, who said he had summoned his key allies in a Zoom call.

“We agreed that we had to make sure we didn’t give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin any excuse… to blame the West and blame NATO,” he said.

“We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it, it was a problem within the Russian system,” he added.

defense of mercenaries

Prigozhin defended himself, stating that his goal was not “to overthrow power in the country”, but to prevent the “destruction of the Wagner group”, but that he did not want to “shed Russian blood”.

“We have shown a high level of organization that the Russian army should have,” Prigozhin added.

He also stated that during his tour, citizens showed their support, exposing the fragility of power in Russia.

“Citizens greeted us with Russian flags and the Wagner symbol,” he said. “Everyone was very happy when we came by.”

The Kremlin claims that Prigozhin will leave for Belarus without specifying when.