MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov thanked his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil Pinto, for his country’s support in connection with the attempted armed mutiny in Russia, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday after their phone call.

"The Russian foreign minister expressed gratitude to the Venezuelan leadership for their principled support and solidarity demonstrated in connection with the attempted armed rebellion in Russia," the ministry said.

The ministers also discussed the implementation of top-priority joint projects. "The sides discussed current issues on the bilateral agenda and the implementation of top-priority joint projects. The ministers reiterated mutual commitment to the further expansion of Russian-Venezuelan cooperation in various international formats in the interests of building a fairer and safer world order," the ministry said.

On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the PMC Wagner, said on his Telegram channel that his units had been attacked and accused the military leadership of Russia of doing so. The Defense Ministry dismissed these allegations as false. PMC Wagner units who agreed to support Prigozhin headed for Rostov-on-Don and towards Moscow. The FSB (Federal Security Service) opened a case over the call for armed mutiny. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised address described the PMC Wagner’s actions as treason.

Later, by agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin. The PMC Wagner’s convoys turned back and returned to their field camps. On Tuesday, the FSB’s public relations center said the criminal case had been dropped. Apart from that, the Russian authorities pledged not to prosecute PMC Wagner troops who took part in the mutiny because of their "combat merits."