Russian State TV Questions Putin Response to Wagner Rebellion

A Kremlin propagandist appeared unhappy that Yevgeny Prigozhin was allowed to leave Russia following the mutiny of his Wagner Group mercenaries against the country's military leadership.

On Saturday, Prigozhin called off his troops who were heading to Moscow, having seized military facilities in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don in a direct challenge to President Vladimir Putin's authority.

Prigozhin is reportedly allowed to go to Belarus following a deal brokered by the country's president, Alexander Lukashenko. The Kremlin said a criminal case against Prigozhin would be dropped, and his fighters would return to their bases and would also not face legal action.

One expert told Newsweek that Prigozhin's potential passage to Belarus raised questions over whether he might bring the Wagner group with him to instigate attacks from there on Ukraine.

Guests on the Russia 1 channel were given the task of expressing their outrage at a civil war being narrowly avoided, with the fact that Prigozhin, as far as has been reported, has escaped accountability.

Anchor Vladimir Solovyov said that he had been "preparing for the worst" as the crisis unfolded, with the prospect of Chechen fighters under the command of Ramzan Kadyrov, who pledged his support for Putin, facing off against Wagner troops in Rostov.

But Andrey Gurulyov, the retired deputy commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District, said that Prigozhin should not have been allowed to get away to Belarus.

"During wartime, traitors have to be destroyed," he said in a clip tweeted by journalist Julia Davis, also creator of the Russian Media Monitor, which provided the translations.

"Today, no matter who says what, whatever fairy tales they are telling, a bullet to the forehead is the sole salvation for Prigozhin [...]," Gurulyov said, also referring to Wagner's co-founder.

Although he did not mention Putin by name, Gurulyov, who is also a Duma deputy known for his fiery rhetoric, contradicted the Russian president's decision, saying "treason cannot be forgiven under any circumstances."

"It simply can't be forgiven, regardless of any past achievements," he said. "I will repeat it once again— the only way out for these friends is to kill themselves before a bullet finds them."

Head of the state-controlled RT channel Margarita Simonyan also skirted around blame of Putin. She said that opening a criminal case but then letting Wagner troops go did not "make a mockery of legal norms" as some had claimed. This was because "legal provisions are not like Christ's commandments or the law of Moses," she added.

"Legal norms are written by people to protect the order and stability in a country," she said. "There can be extraordinary, critical circumstances when legal norms stop to function."

"It was a choice between the terrible and the horrendous," Simonyan said. "There is nothing more frightening than civil strife, which is incomparably more significant than violating legal norms."

Lukashenko's role

Prigozhin has not been seen since Saturday in Rostov. Meanwhile, there is uncertainty over the terms of Lukashenko's deal, under the terms of which neither Prigozhin nor his fighters would face prosecution. Russian media outlets reported on Monday Prigozhin remains under investigation on suspicion of organizing an armed mutiny.

Hanna Liubakova, a journalist from Minsk and non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, said Lukashenko's role as a negotiator "might have only amounted to being a middleman and a messenger for Putin, who did not want to speak directly with Prigozhin."

The potential arrival of Prigozhin in Belarus raises questions such as what role he would assume there and whether he'd bring his Wagner Group mercenaries to stage attacks on Ukraine.

"The military and elite circles surrounding Lukashenko are likely to harbor such concerns," she told Newsweek, adding that Lukashenko's mediation in the Prigozhin deal "reinforces the perception that Belarus continues to function as a vassal state of Russia."

"The growing demotivation and demoralization regarding Russia's actions may raise further concerns among the Belarusian population," Liubakova said. "Eventually, with Putin's authority weakened, the regime in Minsk may find itself with reduced backing and support from Russia."