Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. © Sputnik/Russian Foreign Ministry
If the West “has any doubts” about Russia’s stability in the wake of last week’s mutiny by the Wagner Group “that’s your problem,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference on June 30.
“We are not obligated to explain anything to anyone, to give any assurances,” the minister said, stressing that Russia has been very transparent about recent events.
Lavrov argued that Russia has always emerged stronger from various challenges it has had to overcome in the past. He also noted that the Wagner mutiny, which he described as “nothing more than trouble,” will be no exception.
Led by their chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner fighters began a mutiny on June 23 and attempted to advance towards Moscow. The mutiny ended the very next day, June 24, with an agreement brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Under the agreement, many of the group fighters signed contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and the rest left for Belarus.
Russian authorities are still working to disarm the group and curb its influence. On July 1, it became known that the authorities blocked access to several news websites linked to Prigozhin.
Public access has been restricted to Wagner’s official website as well as riafan.ru and four other sites operating under the umbrella of the Patriot Media Group, according to the database run by the regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN).
The TASS news agency cited employees of the outlets as saying that their parent company would be closed and all of its subsidiaries cease operations.
The United States and other Western states have taken advantage of the ill-fated mutiny to cast doubt on stability in Russia. The mutiny came just a few weeks after Ukraine, with support from the West, launched a counteroffensive against the Russian military in the special operation zone. So far, Kiev forces have failed to make any meaningful gains.
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