Russian President Vladimir Putin has broken his silence for the first time since the Wagner mutiny ended in an uncertain truce on Saturday, with the Russian leader pledging in a televised address that the leaders of the Wagner rebellion would be brought to justice.
Putin’s remarks on Monday were his first since a fiery speech several days ago while the apparent rebellion was still playing out and in which the Russian leader called the Wagner chief’s actions a “stab in the back” and pledged to crush what he described as a “rebellion.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner leader, on Saturday ordered his fast-advancing troops to stand down and return to base in a deal in which criminal charges against him would reportedly be dropped as he agreed to go into exile in neighboring Belarus….