Vladimir Putin says he is confident in realising all his plans in the ‘special military operation’ after the Wagner rebellion.
Breaking his silence following yesterday’s extraordinary events in his nation, the leader stated his top priority remains his brutal war in Ukraine.
Speaking on Russian state television, Putin, 70, said: ‘We feel confident, and, of course, we are in a position to implement all the plans and tasks ahead of us [in Ukraine].
‘This also applies to the country’s defence, it applies to the special military operation, it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas.’
A planned meeting of Russia’s Security Council will take place next week despite this weekend’s chaos.
But Putin previously claimed the attempted coup had put Russia’s very existence at threat.
Putin’s location is not currently known after reports of both his presidential planes fleeing Moscow yesterday.
In a surprise development yesterday, Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his mercenaries to halt their march 200km (120miles) from Moscow to ‘avoid shedding Russian blood’.
He put out a voicenote on his Telegram channel saying he has agreed to ‘stop’ the movement of troops.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Alexander Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agreement, because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years.
The 62-year-old looked unfazed at the failure of his armed march on Moscow as he returned to the Wagner base of operations.
