Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is facing a rebellion by the paramilitary group Wagner, spoke on the phone on Saturday with his Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts, allies of Moscow, to inform them of the situation.
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These are the first international contacts of Mr. Putin since the beginning of this rebellion launched Friday evening by the head of Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine.
“The Russian President called Belarusian President” Alexander Lukashenko, Moscow’s closest ally, this morning to brief him “about the situation in Russia,” the Belarusian state-run Belta news agency quoted the press service as saying. of the Belarusian leader.
The master of the Kremlin then spoke on the telephone with his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, whose country is also an ally of Moscow, particularly within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance led by Russia, the press service of the Kazakh presidency said in a statement.
“Vladimir Putin informed (the Kazakh president, editor’s note) of the situation in his country” and “thanked him for his understanding”, according to the same source.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared during this interview that “the current events are an internal affair of Russia”, emphasizing that “constitutional order and the rule of law are an indispensable condition for maintaining order in the country”, specified the Kazakh presidency.
In January 2022, when riots broke out in Kazakhstan, Mr Tokayev called on Russia for help. The latter took the lead of a contingent of “peacekeeping” forces whose arrival put an end to the troubles which nearly precipitated the fall of Mr. Tokayev. These riots had officially resulted in 238 deaths in nine days.