Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday, in his first public comments since ending a one-day mutiny by his Wagner force on Saturday, that it had been intended to register a protest at the ineffectual conduct of the war in Ukraine, not to overthrow the government in Moscow, reported Reuters.
Prigozhin spoke in an 11-minute audio message released on the Telegram messaging app.
Wagner head further defended the move as a reaction to an attack on his force that killed some of his 30 fighters.
“We started our march because of an injustice,” Prigozhin said in an 11-minute audio. He didn’t offer any details as to where he was or what his future plans are.
Earlier on Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance since a mercenary uprising demanded his ouster, inspecting troops in Ukraine in a video released aimed at projecting a sense of order after the country’s most serious political crisis in decades.
