Putin, Stammering, Swallowing Words, Speaks Out About Civil War In Russia

The bewildered Kremlin chief managed to endure only a minute and a half in front of the military.

Russia's armed forces and military have succeeded in effectively stopping a civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the security services gathered in the Kremlin's Cathedral Square today.

Putin spoke uncertainly, stammering and swallowing words, Ateobreaking noted.

The Kremlin leader said Russia was on the brink of a civil war, which they "managed to stop" at the last minute.

The outcome of the turmoil, according to Putin, would have been chaos for Russia. However, the rebels, who were raised by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner PMC, "saw that the army and the people are not with them," the Russian president said, addressing the parade uniformed security forces.

According to TASS, 2,500 military, law enforcement and other security officials were brought to Red Square for the president's speech. The head of the Ministry of Defence Sergei Shoigu, whose resignation at Prigozhin's request was predicted by z-war correspondents, was among them.

Putin's speech, which lasted only a minute and a half, was the Russian president's third public speech since Wagner's tanks and armoured vehicles took Rostov, marched through central Russia and ended up 200km from Moscow.

The day before, in a crumpled TV address to the nation, Putin assured that there was no threat to his regime. "From the outset, all necessary decisions were taken immediately to neutralise the threat that had arisen. The armed uprising would have been put down anyway," he said.

As reported by Charter97.org, the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the beginning of a military coup. On June 24, the troops of the Wagner PMC took Rostov-on-Don and marched through Rostov, Voronezh and Lipetsk regions of the Russian Federation. Wagner's convoys with armoured vehicles entered Moscow Region and came within 200km of Moscow, after which Prigozhin announced the turn around of his army. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Prigozhin had been cleared of criminal charges of sedition and would now live in Belarus.