Defence Minister reappears but Putin in hiding after rebellion

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had demanded Sergei Shoigu and military chief Valery Gerasimov be handed over to him.

Sergei Shoigu, centre, visits commanders on Monday. Picture: AFP

Two days after Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his “march of justice” on Moscow, President Vladimir Putin has not appeared in public to reassure Russians the crisis was over.

However, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday was shown on state television inspecting Russian troops, his first public appearance since a failed mutiny by Wagner forces.

The Wagner Group boss had demanded General of the Army Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, be handed over to him after accusing them of ordering a strike on his forces in eastern Ukraine.

General Shoigu went to a command post for Russian forces in Ukraine and held a meeting there with the leader of one of the units, according to images shown by the broadcaster.

Rumours have circulated that General Shoigu has been fired, or even detained, but the Kremlin says the deal brokered by Belarus did not touch on the fate of the Defence Minister. There is growing speculation, however, that General Shoigu could be replaced by Alexei Dyumin, governor of the Tula region. He is a former defence official and was once the President’s personal bodyguard.

Flight records show two presidential aircraft landed in Moscow on Sunday. Both had flown out of the city on Saturday as Wagner fighters approached. It is unclear if Mr Putin was on one of the planes.

A swath of senior officials failed to publicly condemn Mr Prigozhin as Wagner troops advanced on the capital. Among those who stayed silent were seven permanent members of the Security Council, including Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB state security service, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Viktor Zolotov, director of the national guard.

Council chairman Nikolai Patrushev, a long-time Putin ally, also failed to speak out against Wagner, as did Margarita Simonyan, head of RT, the Kremlin-backed news channel.

Mr Putin’s near silence, combined with the ease with which the Wagner fighters came within striking distance of Moscow, has brought criticism from hardliners. In Moscow, Vladimir Kvachkov, an ultranationalist former military intelligence officer, told a gathering of comrades that Wagner’s uprising meant “Putin’s state no longer exists”. He also said the aim of nationalists should be to “liberate our country”.

Colonel Kvachkov spent eight years in prison after being convicted in 2010 of creating a terrorist group and plotting to overthrow the government.

He was speaking at a meeting of hundreds of pro-war figures known as the Angry Patriots Club that included Igor Girkin, a former FSB officer who led Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and is wanted for the destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over the Donbas region. Analysts believe the group is backed by hardliners in the Russian security services. Colonel Girkin said: “The time of troubles has begun.”

The whereabouts of Mr Prigozhin are unknown. He was last seen leaving Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia with a population of more than a million people. Wagner took over the city on Saturday, to wide applause and cheers. Under the deal struck with the Kremlin, Mr Prigozhin is to move to Belarus while all charges against him and his fighters will be withdrawn.

Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speech writer who is now a political analyst, said: “(Prigozhin’s rebellion) has finally destroyed Putin’s main trump card in the eyes of voters – the idea of his rule as an era of stability.”

Russian state television tried desperately to put a positive spin on events, telling viewers Mr Prigozhin had called off his march on Moscow because he lacked popular support and that Russia was a “stronghold of unity”. It also broadcast comments by Mr Putin on the war in Ukraine recorded before the crisis last week.

Presenter Dmitry Kiselyov told viewers: “An important factor here is that people on both sides, ready to give their lives for Russia, did not start killing each other in a senseless massacre. You can call it maturity, courage, wisdom, whatever you like, but the fact is that this did not happen.”

State media in Minsk reported that Mr Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko spoke by phone on Sunday.

They were talking as China said it supported Russia in “protecting national stability” following talks in Beijing between Andrey Rudenko, the Russian deputy foreign minister, and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. It was unclear when Mr Rudenko flew to Beijing or if his visit was linked to the Wagner uprising. North Korea and Venezuela also declared support for Mr Putin.

THE TIMES