Wagner warlord Prigozhin resurfaces to justify mutiny against Putin

Mutinous Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin reappeared Monday, issuing a new statement justifying his dramatic rebellion against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend.

The Wagner chief led an uprising against Putin from Friday night, declaring war on the Russian military establishment, seizing a major city and sending his mercenary forces on a “march” to Moscow during which their armored vehicles ended up 200 kilometers from the Russian capital before Prigozhin stood down Saturday evening. 

“We stopped when it became clear that a lot of blood would flow,” Prigozhin said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel. “The demonstration of what we could do was sufficient. Our decision to return was driven by two factors. One, that we did not want Russian blood to flow. The second factor was that we went to demonstrate our protest, and not to overthrow the government of the country.”

Prigozhin added that Wagner is the most effective group of fighters in Russia, if not the world, and blamed Moscow’s top military commanders for “intrigues and ill-conceived decisions” that would have forced its troops to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense, effectively ending their autonomy.

“We delivered a master class in how the operation on February 24, 2022, should have looked,” Prigozhin concluded. “We did not have the goal of overthrowing the existing regime and legally elected power. We turned around so as not to spill the blood of Russian soldiers.”

Prigozhin, responding to a deluge of requests for comment from jouranlists, repeated allegations that his forces had been killed in rocket strikes and helicopter attacks ordered by Russia’s own top generals. “We regret that we were forced to fire on military aircraft but these aircraft were dropping bombs and firing missiles at us,” he said.

The aborted insurrection eventually ended after a deal was reached between the Kremlin, Minsk and Prigozhin, under which the rebellious warlord would leave for Belarus. He has not been seen in public for almost two days after leaving Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to a hero’s reception on Saturday night.

His current whereabouts are unknown.