PUTIN HITS BACK
Putin vows to hunt down Wagner chiefs and ‘bring them to justice’ in scathing address blasting the West over failed coup
CRAZED Vladimir Putin last night vowed to hunt down the Wagner chiefs behind a failed mercenary coup that nearly plunged Russia into civil war.
In a wild-eyed pre-recorded TV address to the nation, the tyrant said "criminals" behind Saturday's mutiny will be brought to justice.
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The bile-monger also accused Ukraine and its allies for being behind the Yevgeny Prighozin-led coup that was later called off.
He said Ukraine and it's "Western patrons" wanted "Russian soldiers to kill each other, to kill military personnel and civilians, so that in the end Russia would lose, and our society would split, choke in bloody civil strife".
Speaking on Monday, Mad Vlad blasted: "The organisers of the rebellion, despite their loss of rationality, could not fail to understand this.
"They were well aware, including the fact that they were engaging in criminal actions, causing division and weakening the country...
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"Which is currently facing an enormous external threat and unprecedented pressure from abroad."
He added that any attempt at "blackmail" was "doomed to fail".
Warlord Prighozin - nicknamed Putin's chef - aborted his march on Moscow following a deal brokered by Belarus's crackpot dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
It came following 24 hours of mayhem that saw Wagner shoot down Russian aircraft, killing 39 pilots and crew.
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Chaos exploded on Russia's southern borders late on Friday when Wagner troops seized control of Rostov-on-Don in a bloodless takeover.
Though Saturday, they stormed up the M4 highway, taking control of military facilities in the Rostov and Voronezh regions as they closed in on the capital.
Anticipating urban warfare, Russia responded by placing cement mixers on roads in Moscow and set up defensive lines across major bridges leading to the capital.
Mercenaries from the private military company were just 120 miles outside Moscow when they downed weapons and returned to "bases" following orders late on Saturday.
Prighozin - who has since fled to Belarus - blamed an alleged Russian airstrike on Wagner troops in Ukraine for his decision to mount a mutiny.
In an 11-minute audio clip, he added how the one-day insurrection was not aimed at "overthrowing the government".
The Wagner chief said: "We started our march because of an injustice. We went to demonstrate our protest and not to overthrow power in the country.
"The aim of the march was to prevent the destruction of Wagner and hold to account officials who through their unprofessional actions have committed a massive number of errors.
"Society demanded it.”
But in his speech on Monday, Putin claimed to be in control as he baselessly accused the West for being behind the mutiny.
Refusing to mention Prighozin by name, he promised any rebels who wanted to live in Belarus would be allowed to.
He said: "From the start of the events, on my orders steps were taken to avoid large-scale bloodshed.
"It was precisely this fratricide that Russia's enemies wanted: both the neo-Nazis in Kyiv and their Western patrons, and all sorts of national traitors.
"They wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other."
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Turning the cross hairs on Ukraine and the West, he added: "They rubbed their hands together, dreaming of revenge for their failures on the frontlines and during the so-called counteroffensive.
"But they miscalculated."
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