The Russian Foreign Minister defended this Friday that the country will be “stronger” after the abortive rebellion of the Wagner group, which shook the Russian government last week.
“Russia has always emerged stronger and more solid from any difficulty […]. This time it will be like that again. We already feel that this process has started,” Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.
Last Friday and Saturday, fighters from the paramilitary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, seized several military installations in southern Russia before marching on Moscow.
The rebellion ended on Saturday night with an agreement on Prigozhin’s exile to Belarus.
So far, neither unofficial nor official sanctions have been announced against the rioters and the security services (FSB) have said they have dropped charges against elements of the Wagner group, which many Western analysts see as a sign of weakness. by the Kremlin.
Since then, the Russian authorities have tried to show a return to normality after these events, which, however, caused one of the worst crises since Putin came to power at the end of 1999.
On Wednesday, during a trip to the Russian (South) Caucasus, Putin said he “never doubted” the support of the population during the armed rebellion in Wagner.
The Russian president even went for a walk, greeting people and taking a photo, a rare public event, according to footage broadcast on state television.
Regarding this episode, the France-Presse news agency (AFP) said that it could not confirm the veracity of the scene, questioning its spontaneity.
“Thank you for caring about our national interests, but it is not necessary,” Lavrov added today, responding to a question from a foreign media outlet.
Source: TSF
