Russia to deal with Prigozhin’s mutiny on its own: Lavrov
Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov recalls that Russia has always come out of any predicaments stronger.
Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Russia will deal with the repercussions created by an attempted armed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private military company, on its own.
During a news briefing, he recalled that Russia has always come out of any predicaments stronger.
"This will be the case this time. We feel that this process has begun...Thank you for your concern, but we will deal with it," he tersely stated.
The top Russian diplomat said that Russia does not have to explain to anyone about the attempted rebellion and its potential impact on the processes in the country, assuring that Moscow acts transparently.
Regarding the grain deal, Lavrov said that Russia does not see any real grounds for the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
"Therefore, I don’t see what arguments those who would like to continue this Black Sea initiative have, because, as I said, it has long become commercial in terms of Ukrainian grain,” Lavrov told journalists.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he expressed Russia's readiness to consider Finland’s proposal on normalization of ties taking into consideration Nato membership.
In another context, Lavrov highlighted the US is trying to temporarily freeze the war in Ukraine in order to gain time for new arms supplies.
On the evening of June 23, the Wagner Group took control of an army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia, and marched toward Moscow the next day. Prigozhin claimed that his activities were in retaliation for the defense ministry's purported assault on his group's field camps, but the ministry denied this. After speaking with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who was acting at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin decided to put an end to the rebellion. Lukashenko acknowledged Prigozhin's arrival in Belarus on Tuesday.
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