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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the troops, his first public appearance since warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin’s weekend rebellion against senior military leaders.
The short video, released by the Ministry of Defense on Monday, shows Shoigu inspecting a Russian command post and being briefed by his subordinates on the progress of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
It was not immediately clear when the video was taken or where Shoigu was. Speculation has swirled in recent days that Putin had agreed to remove him as part of a deal with Prigozhin to end the insurgency, but the Kremlin has denied this.
The Ministry of Defense stated that Shoigu was briefed by Yevgeny Nikiforov, commander of the Western Military District of Russia, on the “current situation, the nature of the enemy’s activities and the completion of combat tasks in the main tactical direction (of the army)”.
Shoigu praised the “efficiency” of the Russian army and ordered them to “uncover the enemy’s plans and prevent their realization”.
The video could be seen as an attempt to paint a picture of things returning to normal, just two days after Prigozhin’s soldiers marched into Moscow and killed at least a dozen Russian soldiers.
Prigozhin and his Wagnerian paramilitary forces struck a deal with the Kremlin on Sunday to end an armed uprising following the biggest crisis of Vladimir Putin’s presidency and withdraw troops from southern Russia.
The former restaurateur, always keen on publicity, maintained a rare silence after announcing an end to the rebellion on Saturday night. The Kremlin said he would travel to Belarus after Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko brokered a deal.
Prigozhin’s press office told Russian broadcaster RTVI on Sunday afternoon that the warlord “greeted everyone and answered questions when the (mobile phone) signal was good”. He left the city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday night, according to video clips released by Russian state news agency RIA that showed crowds cheering the Wagner Group leader.
Despite a deal with Prigozhin to end the crisis, the mutiny and Putin’s extraordinary response on Saturday, when he likened the threat to the 1917 revolution, raised serious doubts about the stability of his regime.
“Yesterday’s events exposed the weakness of the Putin regime,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden at Camp David on Sunday.
“The longer Russia’s aggression lasts, the more damage it does to Russia itself,” Zelensky said later in a video address.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday the uprising showed a “real crack” in Putin’s authority. “This raises deep questions . . . We do know that Putin has a lot to answer in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken said.
Blinken called the crisis an “unfolding story,” adding: “I think we’re in the midst of a moving picture. We haven’t seen the end yet.”