MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Russia’s special services and government agencies are functioning properly, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed in a conversation with reporters.
"All the services, ministries, agencies, special services are carrying out their duties and are doing so properly," the Kremlin official said replying to a question as to whether the Kremlin was happy with the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) actions during the armed mutiny attempt, choosing not to comment on the question about whether the attempt could have been prevented altogether.
"The president noted the high level of consolidation around the president of both the armed forces and special services during those difficult days and expressed his gratitude to all those who were around, including, undoubtedly, the operatives of the services mentioned by you," Peskov added, reiterating that last week, Vladimir Putin personally thanked the military and security structures at a ceremony in the Kremlin.
On the evening of June 23, several audio recordings were posted on the Telegram channel of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. In particular, he claimed that his units had come under attack, blaming the Russian military. The Russian Defense Ministry slammed the Wagner boss’ allegations of a strike on the PMC’s "rear camps" as fake news. The PMC units that supported Prigozhin headed to Rostov-on-Don and toward Moscow. The FSB opened a criminal case on calls for armed mutiny. Putin, in a televised address to the nation on June 24, described the Wagner group’s actions as armed mutiny and a betrayal.
Later, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in coordination with Putin, held talks with Prigozhin, resulting in the PMC standing down, turning its units around, and retreating to their base camps. The Kremlin said that the Russian authorities pledged not to prosecute those Wagner PMC fighters who took part in the mutiny in light of their "frontline achievements." The criminal case on armed mutiny was dropped, the FSB said.
The Belarusian leader offered the Wagner chief an abandoned military base in Belarus to station his fighters and guaranteed him complete safety. As Putin noted, the Wagner PMC mutiny on June 24 was fraught with the risk of a civil war, however, the military and law enforcement managed to prevent its dangerous fallout.