Russian authorities yesterday said they have closed a criminal investigation into the armed rebellion led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, with no charges against him or any of the other participants.
The Russian Federal Security Service said its investigation found that those involved in the mutiny “ceased activities directed at committing the crime.”
Over the weekend, the Kremlin pledged not to prosecute Prigozhin and his fighters after he stopped the revolt on Saturday, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin had branded them as traitors.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The charge of mounting an armed mutiny carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. Prigozhin escaping prosecution poses a stark contrast to how the Kremlin has been treating those staging anti-government protests.
Many opposition figures in Russia have received lengthy prison terms and are serving time in penal colonies notorious for harsh conditions.
The whereabouts of Prigozhin yesterday remained a mystery. The Kremlin has said Prigozhin would be exiled to Belarus, but neither he nor the Belarusian authorities have confirmed that.
An independent Belarusian military monitoring project Belaruski Hajun said a business jet that Prigozhin reportedly uses landed near Minsk yesterday morning.
On Monday night, Putin once again blasted organizers of the rebellion as traitors who played into the hands of Ukraine’s government and its allies.
The media team for Prigozhin, the 62-year-old head of the Wagner private military contractor, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prigozhin’s short-lived insurrection over the weekend — the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule in more than two decades in power — has rattled Russia’s leadership.
In his nationally televised speech, Putin sought to project stability and control, criticizing the uprising’s “organizers,” without naming Prigozhin. He also praised Russian unity in the face of the crisis, as well as rank-and-file Wagner fighters for not letting the situation descend into “major bloodshed.”
Earlier in the day, Prigozhin defended his actions in a defiant audio statement. He again taunted the Russian military, but said he had not been seeking to stage a coup against Putin.
Meanwhile, in Washington, US President Joe Biden on Monday said the brief uprising by Russian mercenaries against the Kremlin was part of a struggle within the Russian system, and that the US and its allies were not involved in it.
Biden offered a cautious assessment of unfolding events in an attempt to avoid inflaming tensions with Russia while he offered firm Western support for Ukraine in its bid to turn back Russian invaders.
“We made clear we were not involved, we had nothing to do with this,” Biden said in his first comments on the uprising.
Biden’s message that the West was not involved was sent directly to the Russians through various diplomatic channels, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Biden’s comment came in the wake of a report by TASS news agency, quoting Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, that Russian intelligence services were investigating whether Western spy agencies played a role in the aborted coup.
Biden said he spoke with key allies on a videoconference to make sure everyone was on the same page and coordinated in their response.
“They agreed with me that we had to make sure that we gave Putin no excuse — gave Putin no excuse — to blame this on the West and blame this on NATO,” he said.
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