Putin Claims That the West Wants the Russian People "To Kill Each Other" in a Mutiny

Putin Claims That the West Wants the Russian People "To Kill Each Other" 

In a meeting with Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister and a key target of the mutiny, Vladimir Putin thanked his security personnel for their efforts during the armed uprising.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, charged on Monday that Ukraine and its Western supporters wanted Russians to "kill each other" amid a mutiny by mercenaries of the Wagner group, who shocked the nation with an unsuccessful march on Moscow over the weekend.

In his first speech to the country after the rebels withdrew, Putin declared that he had given instructions to prevent violence and that he had pardoned the Wagner fighters, whose rebellion posed the greatest threat to his two-decade leadership to date.

As he thanked Russians for their "patriotism," Putin stated in a televised address, "Steps were taken on my orders to avoid large-scale bloodshed from the beginning of the events."