Kremlin releases first video statement by Putin since Wagner mutiny

[June 26, 2023]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday issued via the Kremlin website his first statement since an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, congratulating participants of an industrial forum. 

It was not immediately clear when or where Putin's statement was recorded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an emergency televised address in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2023. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS/File photo

Putin made a national address to the Russian people on Saturday condemning the mutiny by Wagner mercenaries as a "stab in the back" and vowing to crush it.

He has not commented publicly on the subsequent deal, announced late on Saturday, that appeard to defuse the crisis and avert possible bloodshed by allowing the Wagner fighters to return to base and their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to move to Belarus.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Gareth Jones)

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