The head of Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks for the first time since the attempted coup in Russia, who posted an 11-minute audio on Telegram without revealing his whereabouts. Which should be Belarus, at least according to reports from the Russian authorities.

Wagner, she said, explaining the reasons for Saturday's mutiny which for a few hours seemed to bring Russia to the brink of civil war, set off on the march towards Moscow to "express a protest" and "not to overthrow the country's government ». The reason? The authorities had decided to dissolve the paramilitary formation on July 1 following "intrigues".

Prigozhin and the other Wagner officers had decided to lay down their arms in Rostov on June 30 , but refused to join the regular armed forces by July 1, as mandated by the Defense Ministry. But since they were "bombed", they embarked on the so-called "march of justice" towards Moscow, "not to overthrow the legitimate power, but to express a protest".

The expedition therefore had the objective of avoiding the "destruction" of the company and calling to their responsibilities "those individuals" who "committed an enormous number of mistakes in the special military operation" in Ukraine .

As for the role of the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, whose mediation would have put an end to the expedition of mercenaries to Moscow: he had offered to find a solution "for the continuation of Wagner's operations in a legitimate jurisdiction".

PUTIN: «CRIMINAL ACTIONS» – President Vladimir Putin's long-awaited speech on television arrived in the evening , condemning the «criminal actions» of those who carried out an «armed mutiny» . The revolt would have been crushed anyway, he added, but "we wanted to avoid bloodshed."

“That's what Ukrainian neo-Nazis wanted, for Russian soldiers to kill other Russians, for our society to split, to suffocate in blood. Instead all our soldiers, our special services, have managed to keep their loyalty to their country, they have saved Russia from destruction ». As for the fate of the Wagner militiamen: "They can sign a contract to place themselves under the orders of the Defense Ministry, return to their families or take refuge in Belarus".