Putin: "The Rebellion Is Doomed to Fail"... Prigozhin: "No Intention to Overthrow the Regime" (Summary)

4000 Troops March on Moscow... "Occupation Difficult"
All Withdraw Support After Putin's 'Traitor' Remark

Russian President Vladimir Putin officially declared for the first time since the military rebellion that shook all of Russia that the rebellion has completely failed. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group who led the rebellion, also stated that overthrowing the Russian regime was not the goal, marking a phase where the dispute between the two parties has been superficially resolved.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

However, as the Putin regime, which faced its greatest crisis since coming to power, is expected to disband or absorb into the government forces various mercenary units across Russia, including the Wagner Group, attention is focused on how this will affect the war in Ukraine. Experts analyze that if the mercenary units that were at the forefront of major battlefronts are disbanded, the combat power of the Russian military will be significantly weakened.

According to the Russian state news agency Sputnik on the 26th (local time), President Putin declared in a televised speech that the rebellion led earlier by Prigozhin had completely failed. He said, "This situation has shown that all threats and chaos were destined to fail," and emphasized, "From the beginning of the incident, all necessary decisions were immediately made to eliminate the threat and protect the constitution as well as the lives and safety of citizens. The armed rebellion would have been suppressed under any circumstances."

Regarding the Wagner Group soldiers who were the main actors in the rebellion, he took a conciliatory stance, calling them patriots. President Putin said, "I know that most of the commanders and soldiers of the Wagner Group are patriots of Russia. They were used in the rebellion to fight against their comrades without even realizing it," and added, "I thank the Wagner Group commanders and soldiers who stopped at the last moment and did not cross the line leading to bloodshed." He further promised, "(Wagner Group) soldiers can contract with the Ministry of Defense or go home. Alternatively, they can go to Belarus. Their safety will be guaranteed."

Prigozhin, who led the rebellion, also explained that overthrowing the regime was never the goal. In a voice message released on Telegram that day, he said, "We did not march to overthrow the Russian government. We turned back to avoid shedding the blood of Russian soldiers," and emphasized, "We did not show any intention to attack but were attacked by missiles and helicopters. That was the trigger. It is regrettable that we had to attack Russian aircraft."

Thus, the military rebellion that shook Russia both internally and externally has officially come to a complete end, and a superficial agreement between the two parties is considered to have been reached. However, as there are expectations that the Putin regime will actively regulate the activities of mercenary companies going forward, there are also predictions that the combat power of the Russian military in the Ukraine war will weaken.

Within Russian politics, while plans to control mercenary companies are being prepared, the stance remains that they should not be disbanded. According to Russian news agency TASS, on the same day, Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the Defense Committee of the Russian State Duma, said in an interview with TASS, "By this fall, we will prepare integrated regulations for private military companies across Russia," adding, "However, disarming and disbanding the Wagner Group would be the best gift to NATO and Ukraine, and it should not be done."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.