Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose forces staged a revolt against Vladimir Putin’s military leadership over the weekend and shattered the Russian president’s veneer of invincibility, arrived in Belarus.
(Bloomberg) — Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose forces staged a revolt against Vladimir Putin’s military leadership over the weekend and shattered the Russian president’s veneer of invincibility, arrived in Belarus.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed the arrival days after negotiating an agreement to end the mutiny, which saw Prigozhin’s Wagner forces come within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow. Putin earlier said his country had averted a “civil war.”
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Lukashenko Confirms Prigozhin Arrived in Belarus (3:47 p.m.)
Lukashenko said he will “help” Wagner mercenaries at their own expense if they decide to spend some time in Belarus, the state-run Belta new service reported. He also raised the prospect of discussing Wagner becoming a unit within Belarusian military.
While a significant part of Russian nuclear arms has already been delivered to Belarus, Lukashenko ruled out that the group would be taking part in guarding them.
The group is looking to set up some camps in Belarus, but so far “they are in Luhansk in their camps,” Belta cited Lukashenko as saying.
South Africa Reinforces Neutral Stance (3:30 p.m.)
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor made clear after talks with her German counterpart that the armed rebellion by Wagner group mercenaries won’t alter her country’s neutral stance on Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“My understanding is: There isn’t a mutiny, there was an attempted mutiny,” Pandor told reporters at a joint news conference with Annalena Baerbock in Pretoria on Tuesday. “It will not affect our intention of continuing to engage with both” Russia and Ukraine, she added.
Russia Fully Financed Wagner Army, Putin Says (2:38 p.m.)
The Wagner group was fully financed from the state budget through the Defense Ministry, President Putin said on state television.
In the year through May, Putin said the government spent about 276 billion rubles ($3.2 billion) on salaries and insurance for Wagner as well as on payments to its owner for food and catering supplies to the army.
Without mentioning Prigozhin by name, Putin said he hoped that “no one stole anything, or, let’s say, stole just a little in the course of this work. But we will of course deal with all this.”
McCarthy Says Putin Looks Weaker After Rebellion (2:22 p.m.)
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the challenge to Putin from the Wagner group showed that he has become “isolated” and “slow to make decisions.”
In an interview Tuesday on CNBC, the California Republican said that Putin in the past would never have allowed Prigozhin to become powerful enough to mount a mutiny against the Russian government.
“Prigozhin was very public for the last month or so criticizing Putin severely like nobody else has done,” McCarthy said. “He threatened many different ways. The Putin of old, Prigozhin would have fallen out a window or something. This would have never sustained itself.”
Putin Says Russia Avoided ‘Civil War’ (1:20 p.m.)
Putin hailed Russia’s military and paid tribute to the military pilots killed during Prigozhin’s mutiny after earlier calling Wagner Group members who revolted “traitors.”
“You in fact prevented a civil war,” Putin told 2,500 troops assembled at a televised Kremlin ceremony.
Pope Francis Sends Peace Envoy to Moscow (12:30 p.m.)
Pope Francis is sending an envoy to Moscow in an effort to foster what the Vatican called “gestures of humanity” that could eventually help end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi will visit the Russian capital on Wednesday and Thursday and Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that he would meet with the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church and Russian government officials.
“The primary purpose of the initiative is to encourage gestures of humanity, that may contribute to promoting a solution to the tragic current situation, and to find ways to reach a just peace,” according to a Vatican statement.
Orban Plays Down Mutiny Impact (11:45 a.m.)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the Wagner mutiny won’t have any impact on the course of the war and dismissed the idea that Putin has been weakened.
“If someone speculates that Putin might fail or be replaced, then they do not understand the Russian people and Russian power structures,” Orban was quoted as saying by Germany’s Bild newspaper in an interview.
“The structures in Russia are very stable,” he added. “They are based on the army, the secret service, the police, so it is a different kind of country, it is a military-oriented country.”
ECB Urges Banks to Speed Up Russia Exit (11:45 a.m.)
The European Central Bank is pushing lenders from the region that still have operations in Russia to accelerate plans to shrink or exit units there.
The ECB recently “urged these banks to speed-up their downsizing and exit strategies by adopting clear road maps” and regularly reporting on progress to their management bodies and the watchdog, according to Andrea Enria, who leads the ECB’s Supervisory Board.
Poland’s Orlen Replaces Russian Oil (11:30 a.m.)
PKN Orlen SA signed an oil delivery deal with BP Plc four months after Russian supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to its Polish refinery were unexpectedly halted.
Poland’s sole refiner will buy as much as 6 million tons of oil from BP over one year under the contract, it said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. The new agreement will supplement its current long-term deals with Saudi Aramco, which supplies just under 50% of the company’s needs since last year.
Events in Russia ‘Painful to Watch’: Lukashenko (9:50 a.m.)
Lukashenko said the mutiny had been painful to watch, state-owned Belta news service reported him as saying at a ceremony where he was flanked by top military officials. There was no sign of Prigozhin in photographs provided by Belta.
Lukashenko struck a somber note in his speech, saying there were “no heroes” in the situation around the mutiny in Russia. “We let the situation out of hand,” he said, meaning himself, Putin and Prigozhin.
Oil Edges Higher After Choppy Session (7:06 a.m.)
Oil edged higher on Tuesday after a choppy session following the short-lived armed uprising in Russia, a major OPEC+ producer.
West Texas Intermediate futures climbed toward $70 a barrel after closing 0.3% higher on Monday.
Russia Conducts Flight Exercises Over Baltic (5:15 a.m.)
Tactical flight exercises of warplanes including the Su-27 fighter are being held over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The exercises are aimed at testing the readiness of flight crews to conduct special tasks and the capabilities of aviation equipment, the ministry added.
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