In his first statement after going into exile, private mercenary group Wagner's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said their mutiny was a masterclass for Russia on how it should have carried out the Ukraine invasion. He added toppling the government was never their plan.
Prigozhin released his first audio statement since an aborted armed rebellion he staged on Saturday, defending the move as a reaction to an attack on his force that killed some of his 30 fighters.
“We started our march because of an injustice,” Prigozhin said in a 11-minute audio. He didn't offer any details as to where he was or what his future plans are. The Guardian quoted Prigozhin as saying, “It was not our goal to overthrow the regime. We stopped at that moment when it became clear that much blood would be spilled.”
Prigozhin said they decided to turn back due to two factors. “we didn’t want to spill Russian blood. Secondly, we marched as a demonstration of our protest,” he said. “The goal of the march was to not allow the destruction of the Wagner private military company and hold to account the officials who through their unprofessional actions have committed a massive number of errors. Society demanded it,” the publication reported quoting Prigozhin.
Prigozhin said his soldiers regretted the killing of Russian airmen.
A feud between Wagner Group leader Prigozhin and Russia's military brass that has festered throughout the war erupted into a mutiny that saw the mercenaries leave Ukraine to seize a military headquarters in a southern Russian city and roll seemingly unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow, before turning around after less than 24 hours on Saturday.
The Kremlin said it had made a deal for Prigozhin to move to Belarus and receive amnesty, along with his soldiers. There was no confirmation of his whereabouts Monday, although a popular Russian news channel on Telegram reported he was seen at a hotel in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
Russian media reported a criminal probe against Prigozhin continued, and some lawmakers called for his head.
In a return to at least superficial normality, Moscow's mayor announced an end to the counterterrorism regime imposed on the capital on Saturday, when troops and armoured vehicles set up checkpoints on the outskirts and authorities tore up roads leading into the city.
Though his mutiny was brief, it was not bloodless. Russian media reported that several military helicopters and a military communications plane were shot down by Wagner forces, killing at least 15.
(With PTI inputs.)