Putin to deliver video address
After being silent for almost half a day, the Kremlin announced that a video address by Russian President Vladimir Putin will be broadcast on Saturday, 24 June.
Source: Kremlin-aligned news agency TASS
Details: Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said that Putin would deliver an address "shortly".
There is no information on the topic of his speech, but it is expected to be related to the events involving Yevgeny Prigozhin, Chief of the Wagner Private Military Company.
Putin has been silent since the evening of Friday, 23 June, when Prigozhin announced a "war" against Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Background:
- Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagnerites’ rear camps. Prigozhin claimed that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Rostov, where he personally conducted an operation to wipe out the mercenaries.
- Prigozhin's 25,000 mercenaries are allegedly going to "restore justice". At the same time, he asked not to call it a "military coup". Prigozhin added that Shoigu had fled Rostov like a coward and "this creature will be stopped". The Russian Defence Ministry called the information a provocation.
- Photos and videos of armoured vehicles on the streets of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don are being posted on Russian social media following Prigozhin’s statement about a de facto declaration of war against the Russian army. Checkpoints have been set up at entrances to Moscow.
- Prigozhin claimed that his forces had taken control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the air base, and were heading "to Moscow" and that his soldiers had shot down three Russian helicopters.
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