Vladimir Putin says the West and Ukraine wanted the Russians to ‘kill’ each other

In a speech lasting about five minutes, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine and the West of his country’s citizens “killing each other”.

These are the president’s first statements after the uprising led by the Wagner group, which took over several military institutions last Friday.

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For 24 hours, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s forces seized several military installations in Rostov-on-Dov, in southwestern Russia, and traveled 600 kilometers toward Moscow. In Rostov, his fighters were cheered as they left the military headquarters they had taken over, which coordinates operations in Ukraine.

The uprising ended after an agreement under which Prigozhin received guarantees of immunity for himself and his men in exchange for ending the uprising. According to the Kremlin, he should go into exile in Belarus.

At the beginning of the speech, Putin thanked the people for their resilience, cohesion and patriotism during the uprising. He added that a crime has been committed against both the armed forces and security and the country.

He said they have taken necessary measures to prevent a massacre and that Russian society condemns the riot. Just as he labeled most of Wagner’s members as patriotic.

“By returning, they avoided more bloodshed,” he said.

The president said he is giving those who took part in the uprising the option of dealing with the defense ministry to return to the front lines or go to Belarus, which he will respect.

“Each of you has the opportunity to make this decision, to return to the Russian army,” he said.

Putin thanked Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, for his intervention in peacefully resolving the situation in the conflict.

He also added that Ukraine and the West wanted “an outcome of fratricide”.

After his speech, the Russian president met with his top security officials, the Kremlin announced.