The attempted mutiny of the Wagner group on Saturday has no consequences, according to the Russian channels, which take up the statements of the Kremlin.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin is regaining control, or at least trying to do so. All day Tuesday, June 27, the Russian President tried to appear as having control of events, in front of the soldiers, the police, the journalists, the party leaders he met, the most often in front of television cameras which faithfully followed his every move.
From Tuesday morning Pervy Kanal, the first channel, set the tone: “The patriotic spirit of our fellow citizens and the cohesion of society have played a decisive role in overcoming the most difficult ordeal for our country”says a journalist. Saturday’s uprising was actually a victory for Russian power and people, according to the channel. “Our opponents who are rubbing their hands expecting a completely different result have understood this.”
All morning, the channels repeated Vladimir Putin’s speech on a loop from the day before, until the Kremlin ceremony that he will preside over, where the message becomes: “The people drawn into the insurrection saw that the army, the people, were not with them.”
Prigozhin is almost never mentioned
Clearly, the adventure of Evguéni Prigojine had no consequences. Moreover, the name of Prigojine is not pronounced in any television news, as before the day of Saturday. It is only in the talk shows that comment on current events that Wagner’s boss is quoted, as Olga does. Skabeevahost of the program “60 minutes” on the Rossiya 1 channel. “This treacherous armed rebellion began under the auspices of a quest for justice, patriotism and good intentions. So said Prigozhin, she comments. Apparently the good intentions included the destruction of several helicopters and a plane killing high level pilots during wartime.
During this time on Pervy Kanal, one indicates the persons in charge for the insurrection of Saturday and it is not Prigojine, explains in front of the cameras the chief of the national guard, Viktor Zolotov. “This rebellion was fomented by Western intelligence agencies, he says. They knew about it, as they said weeks before they started.”
And Russian viewers will not be entitled to this sentence from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who, meanwhile, is telling Minsk how he handled the Prigojine case with Vladimir Putin. “I told Putin: we can kill him, it’s not a problem. But don’t do it.”
The report in Moscow from our correspondent
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