Putin said that Wagner PMC fighters would be able to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, resign or “leave” for Belarus. He announced this in an emergency statement on June 26 in the evening. He also thanked the Wagnerites for the fact that the rebellion did not end in bloodshed.
Putin also expressed gratitude to Alexander Lukashenko for his contribution to the peaceful settlement of the situation. The whole performance lasted about five minutes. Earlier, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov promised that this statement "will change the fate of Russia."
Lukashenka's press service also announced his speech on June 26 in the evening, simultaneously with Putin, but then said that he would answer journalists' questions on June 27.
Earlier, pro-war Telegram channels reported that Putin would fire Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There were also suggestions that the governor of the Tula region, Alexei Dyumin, would take his place. During the Prigozhin rebellion, information appeared that Dyumin participated in negotiations with the head of the PMC, but the authorities of the region called these reports unreliable.
Prigozhin during the rebellion called for the resignation of Shoigu. After he announced that he was stopping the armed rebellion, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was unaware of changes "in terms of trust in the defense minister."
Z-channels also wrote that Sergey Surovikin could become the head of the General Staff instead of Valery Gerasimov.
Shoigu and Gerasimov have never appeared in public since the beginning of the rebellion, and the Russian Defense Ministry has not made any statements on their behalf. Prigozhin, during his speeches during the rebellion, called Shoigu a “creature” and a “woman” and announced that he and Gerasimov were the main culprits of what was happening.
