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PM Modi, Putin discuss Ukraine, Wagner mutiny over telephone call
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the Wagner mutiny over a telephonic conversation
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the Ukraine war and recent Wagner mutiny over a telephonic conversation.
PM Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership's decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.
The telephonic conversation between the two leaders comes less than a week after the Russian leadership managed to avert a major coup by Yevgeny Prigozhin-led private mercenary army Wagner Group.
The private mercenary army had overtaken two major south Russian cities but called off the march to Moscow after Kremlin managed to broker a deal with Prigozhin with the help of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Later, Prigozhin in a video message on Telegram denied that he wanted to overthrow the Russian leadership. He said the march was intended for justice. After the mutiny, questions are being raised on Putin's leadership with the West predicting that the Russian president was no longer 'invincible'.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Russian president moved on senior players who were suspected to have supported the 24-hour Wagner mutiny. A top general was detained for questioning.
Opponents of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu from the security services stepped up internal calls for his removal. Prigozhin had been publicly attacking Shoigu, a longtime ally of Putin’s, for months over the lack of success in the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin spent the week trying to reassure key constituencies, with televised public events involving military, business and other groups. While polls showed his public support remained strong, doubts about his control among the government and business elite spread.
