A rattled Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish every organizer of the Wagner mercenary group’s mutiny in Russia over the weekend—but he also thanked the “overwhelming majority” of Wagner fighters for saving the country from a “colossal threat.” “By turning back they avoided further bloodshed,” he said in a recorded address to the nation after the group’s leader, Yevgeney Prigozhin, led the shocking coup attempt. Putin notably did not mention Prigozhin, who was allowed to head to Belarus and escape criminal charges after brokering a deal with Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to call off the rebellion. Those who staged the “mutiny” wanted Russia to lose “and our society to drown in blood, but they miscalculated,” Putin said. Any Wagner fighters who didn’t “shed blood” could sign up to join the conventional Russian military or move to Belarus, he added.
