On Tuesday, Russian officials announced that they had dropped all charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin or any of the other participants in the armed uprising they had been investigating. After conducting an investigation, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, claimed that individuals participating in the mutiny “ceased activities directed at committing the crime.” Even though President Vladimir Putin had branded Prigozhin and his troops as traitors, the Kremlin promised over the weekend not to bring charges against them after he put an end to the uprising on Saturday.
The penalty for organizing an armed revolt is up to 20 years in prison. The fact that Prigozhin avoided charges contrasts sharply with how the Kremlin has been treating individuals organizing anti-government demonstrations. Numerous opposition members in Russia have been given lengthy prison sentences and are currently incarcerated in colonies known for their brutal living conditions. Prigozhin’s location remained unknown. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Prigozhin will be banished to Belarus, but neither he nor the Belarusian government has verified this. A business plan that Prigozhin allegedly employs arrived close to Minsk on Tuesday morning, according to the independent Belarusian military monitoring organization Belaruski Hajun.
Putin slammed the rebellion’s leaders as traitors
On Monday night, Putin slammed the rebellion’s leaders as traitors who helped the Ukrainian government and its allies. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the media team for Prigozhin, the 62-year-old leader of the Wagner private military contractor. The weekend’s brief uprising by Prigozhin, the largest challenge to Putin’s authority in more than two decades, has alarmed Russia’s top brass. In his nationally broadcast speech, Putin made an effort to convey stability and control while criticizing the uprising’s “organizers,” albeit Prigozhin was not specifically mentioned. He also commended the Russian people for remaining united in the face of the crisis and Wagner fighters in the front lines for preventing “major bloodshed.”
In a combative audio address earlier in the day, Prigozhin justified his activities. He mocked the Russian military once more but claimed he wasn’t planning to overthrow Putin. The Kremlin on Monday night showed Putin meeting with top security, law enforcement, and military officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom Prigozhin had wanted to oust. This was another demonstration of stability and control.
Putin expressed appreciation to his team for their efforts over the weekend, seemingly endorsing the troubled Shoigu. An earlier video of Shoigu inspecting Ukrainian troops was made public by the government. Also uncertain was his ability to retain his mercenary troops. In his address, Putin gave Prigozhin’s soldiers the choice of reporting to the Russian Defence Ministry, quitting their jobs, or moving to Belarus. Wagner might operate “in a legal jurisdiction,” according to the Belarusian leadership’s proposed solutions, according to Prigozhin on Monday, without going into further detail.