Moscow (EFE).- The Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, inspected the advanced command post of Russian units fighting in Ukraine, in what is his first appearance after the 24-hour armed rebellion carried out on Saturday by the mercenaries of the Wagner Group, informed his department today.
During his visit to the Western Group of Forces “he verified the high efficiency in the identification and destruction of military equipment and enemy deployment points in the tactical areas of the group’s area of responsibility,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement in its Telegram channel.
“Shoigu paid special attention to the organization of comprehensive support for the troops involved in the special military operation and the creation of conditions for the safe deployment of personnel,” said the military institution, which also published a video of the visit.
Defense noted that the minister heard a report from the group commander, Colonel General Yevgeni Nikiforov, “on the current situation, the nature of the enemy’s actions and the performance of combat missions by Russian troops in the main tactical directions,” as well as about the newly formed reserve regiments.
“Western Task Force commanders are tasked with continuing active reconnaissance to reveal enemy plans in advance and prevent their implementation on distant approaches to the line of contact,” the ministry noted.
He had not appeared in public since Friday
While the exact date of Shoigu’s visit to the Russian rear in Ukraine is unknown, the minister had not appeared in public since last Friday, when he briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Security Council meeting on the march. from the war.
Throughout the mutiny organized by Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, -who justified his armed uprising precisely with the lack of leadership of Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff, Valeri Gerasimov, in the Ukraine, where he said they were guilty of the death of some “100,000 Russian soldiers” -, the minister remained silent.
The rebellion was halted after Prigozhin and his men had taken the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and approached 200 kilometers from Moscow in columns.
The agreement reached with the mediation of the Belarusian leader, Alexandr Lukashenko, implies that the 62-year-old businessman and his mercenaries will not be criminally prosecuted.
Prigozhin will go into exile in Belarus, while the fighters who did not directly participate in the uprising will be able to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and subordinate themselves to Shoigu, just as he and Putin had wanted.
This, however, implies in practice the disappearance of the Wagner Group as such, at least in the Ukraine.