Vladimir Putin has made his first official appearance following the Wagner group’s failed weekend coup. The Russian premier issued a video this morning addressing participants of a youth industrial forum with a few words for young engineers, researchers and students gathered in the western city of Tula. But he has left some onlookers wanting after he failed to mention the most significant Russian coup attempt in more than a century.
In the video, which was posted to the Kremlin website, the president wished forum attendees “fruitful work and success”.
The clip did not reveal from where the premier was recorded but showed Putin standing against a wood-panelled backdrop and next to a Russian flag.
He was not the only Russian official making their first official appearance since the Wagner group, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced it was marching on Moscow last week.
A video posted by the defence ministry showed Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister whose leadership was at the centre of the coup attempt, as he debuted for an official visit to military headquarters in Ukraine.
While the footage did not directly address the weekend’s events, it appeared to make a statement as it was broadcast across Russian media channels, including those run by the state.
Both Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Russian General chief of staff, have become targets of Prigozhin’s frustration in recent months, as the warlord criticised them for leaving his men without ammunition during the brutal fight for Bakhmut.
The recent video showing Putin and his military chiefs going about their business suggests a push to return to normality, with officials reportedly having decided to exile Prigozhin to Belarus.
The warlord was seen exiting the city of Rostov-on-Don over the weekend, the staging ground for his coup attempt, following talks brokered by Belarusian premier Alexander Lukashenko.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Saturday that Putin agreed to allow his former close ally to go to Belarus.
Peskov did not say whether any other assurances were made aside from safety and that Prigozhin’s troops would not face official retribution.
However, sources have told state-owned media firm Ria Novosti that they have not completely dismissed the “criminal case” against the Wagner boss.
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