Shoigu comments on Wagner mutiny for first time

Russia’s Defence Minister says the coup failed due to servicemen being loyal to their oath and duty

Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s Defence Minister, has commented on the mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s PMC Wagner for the first time, as per Russia’s MoD.

Shoigu called the mutiny “an attempt to destabilise the situation in Russia”.

“These plots failed, and mostly because the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces proved their loyalty to their oath and duty. The provocation had no impact on the actions of our troops [in Ukraine]. The servicemen continued to perform their tasks with courage and dedication,” Shoigu said.

He also thanked the troops for “dutiful service”.

At a Defence Ministry session, Shoigu also stated that Ukrainian troops had lost around 2,500 various units of equipment starting 4 June.

On 23 June, the Wagner Group announced that units of the Russian Defence Ministry had struck its mercenary camp. The ministry denied this. Later, Prigozhin announced a “march of justice” on Russian territory.

In the early hours of 24 June, the FSB opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for organising an armed uprising. The special service stated that the Wagner chief’s actions are “essentially calls for starting an armed civil conflict” on Russian territory and are “a knife in the back” for Russian troops.

By the afternoon of 24 June, the Wagner troops had taken control of Russia’s southern cities of Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh, and started advancing on Moscow. However, in the evening of the same day, Belarus’ Alyaksandar Lukashenka came up with a statement saying he held talks with Prigozhin and managed to convince the insurgent to stop the advance on Moscow.

Later on, Prigozhin announced that the Wagnerites would return to their field camps.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on the evening of 24 June that criminal charges against Prigozhin had been dropped and that the Wagner chief would leave for Belarus.