The opening line of the Kremlin’s flagship weekly news program on Sunday night time made the official place clear relating to the 24-hour mutiny staged by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the mercenary chief who despatched his troops marching on Moscow solely to tug them again on the final second.
“Armed mutiny in Russia is not supported by the society,” stated Dmitry Kiselyov, the anchor and senior Kremlin propagandist whose program — Vesti Nedelu or “News of the Week” — units the tone for the federal government monopoly on broadcast news. “Treason in the time of war is a grave crime.”
The newscast then confirmed in full Mr. Putin’s vehement, 5-minute speech from Saturday morning, wherein he accused Mr. Prigozhin, with out mentioning his identify, of stabbing Russia within the again.
Within hours of that tackle, the vows that Mr. Prigozhin would face legal prosecution for his actions had evaporated. All news retailers carried the assertion from Dmitri S. Peskov, the presidential spokesman, who broke the dramatic stress by saying a behind-the-scenes deal credited to President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of neighboring Belarus. In change for standing down, Mr. Prigozhin was granted secure passage in another country and his troops had been forgiven.
Mr. Kiselyov’s prolonged report on Sunday night time prompt that Mr. Prigozhin had discovered little standard help for his rebellion and resorted to flowery language to explain its about-face: “The armored column ran out of petrol and the feeling that the head of mutineers, Prigozhin, was about to evaporate into bloody steam, strengthened.”
In brief, this system concluded that Mr. Prigozhin was a traitor whose act of defiance meant little or no within the face of Russian unity.
NTV, one other state-run channel, echoed the identical theme on its weekly roundup, calling the rebellion a betrayal. It hinted on the involvement of overseas powers — the Kremlin’s default boogeyman — by referring to experiences that American intelligence was conscious of the brewing riot however didn’t communicate out.
While state tv is the primary supply of news for the older era, youthful Russians depend on Telegram, a social media app, that was flooded with news and commentary — not all of it dependable.
An influential group of pro-war bloggers who’ve been supportive but important of the conflict effort, discovered themselves in a bind. They had been caught between their admiration for Mr. Prigozhin and his mercenary military and their dismay over the injuries his riot had opened.
One blogger, Yuri Kotenok, puzzled aloud on Telegram on Sunday the place the navy management had disappeared to through the disaster. The important targets of Mr. Prigozhin’s ire — the protection minister, Sergei Ok. Shoigu, and the navy chief of employees, Vitaly V. Gerasimov — haven’t been seen or heard from for the reason that riot started.
“On the day when this happened, where were you?” he wrote. “Or can you only shoot videos when there is no threat to give the president a show? Come to your senses, this is not a show. The country has been at war for a year now.”
Even as analysts outdoors Russia prompt the temporary revolts had immeasurably broken the popularity of President Vladimir V. Putin as infallible and invincible, the Russian authorities media predictably solid the day as an general win for Moscow.
But a number of Russian voices prompt that the issues revealed by the mutiny wanted to be addressed.
Moskovsky Komsomolets, a scrappy tabloid, featured the headline “Prigozhin Leaves, Problems Remain: Deep Political Consequences of a Failed Coup.” (Mr. Prigozhin maintained that he was not fomenting a coup, merely attempting to drive a change of the highest navy management.)
The tabloid prompt that “the highest power in the country” had created the issue by permitting unlawful militias to flourish, weakening the state’s monopoly on violence.
Everyone had been puzzled by the impunity with which Mr. Prigozhin had been allowed to criticize the highest navy brass, the tabloid stated. (Independent analysts outdoors Russia famous that atypical protesters get prolonged jail phrases for related statements, however that went unmentioned within the state-run retailers.)
“This created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty and trampled down the reputation of the authorities,” wrote Mikhail Rostovsky, a columnist, including that the mutiny confirmed to the world that Russia was weak.
“Yevgeny Prigozhin will go to Belarus, but the problems created by him (to be fair: not only by him) will remain,” the columnist stated, “Solving them will be oh so difficult.”
Alina Lobzina and Milana Mazaeva contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com