Recapping Russia revolt via four presidents, a warlord

WARSAW, Poland — Civil war. An evil that must be stopped. A bug about to be squashed.

The weekend rebellion by a mercenary warlord in Russia was punctuated by dramatic language from the key protagonists as the world held its breath at the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule of more than two decades.

Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin incited a rebellion against Russia’s military leaders and sent his troops toward Moscow but aborted his mutiny when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered an agreement that included exile for the warlord in Belarus. Though short-lived, the revolt rattled Russian power circles, tarnished Putin’s aura of control and gave Ukrainians hope that Russian infighting could help them.

Here is a look at the past several days with a focus on comments by key figures — Prigozhin, Putin and Lukashenko — as well as by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden.

DAY 1: THE REVOLT GETS UNDERWAY

In a challenge to the Kremlin, Prigozhin argued that Russia’s stated reasons for invading Ukraine — a threat from NATO and neoNazis — were lies.

For months, he accused the military brass of starving his forces of ammunition. A video in May showed him standing in front of the bloodied bodies of his slain troops yelling obscenities at Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, calling them incompetent and blaming them for the carnage.

Prigozhin, who said he had 25,000 troops to march towards Moscow with him, vowed that his troops would punish Shoigu and urged the army not to offer resistance: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”

DAY 2: PUTIN SPEAKS, PRIGOZHIN RETREATS

As Prigozhin’s forces set up camp in Rostov-onDon, Putin made a televised address to the nation Saturday morning calling the uprising “a stab in the back” and vowing to punish its organizers.

Prigozhin said his fighters would not surrender, as “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”

The Russian military was fortifying the defenses around Moscow, and Lukashenko told Prigozhin he was about to get “squashed like a bug,” he later recalled.

By the evening, Lukashenko had brokered a deal promising Prigozhin immunity from prosecution even though his forces had shot down Russian helicopters and a military communications plane, killing about a dozen airmen.

Zelenskyy said Moscow was suffering “full-scale weakness” and Kyiv was protecting Europe from “the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”

Prigozhin ended Saturday with crowds cheering him and his Wagner troops, and they began their retreat.

DAY 3: SILENCE AS MOSCOW RETURNS TO NORMAL

After a day of drama, the world on Sunday awaited news about Prigozhin’s whereabouts and fate. In Moscow, life was returning to normal. People packed cafes and there was little sign of the “counterterrorist regime” of restrictions on movement and enhanced security from the day before.

Prigozhin went completely silent.

Meanwhile, Biden spoke to Zelenskyy and “reaffirmed unwavering U.S. support,” the White House said.

DAY 4: THREE-WAY COMMUNICATION

After his day of silence, Prigozhin issued an 11-minute audio statement on Monday in which he denied trying to attack the Russian state and said he acted in response to a deadly attack on his force. “We started our march because of an injustice,” he said.

Putin said “Russia’s enemies” had hoped the mutiny would succeed in dividing and weakening Russia, “but they miscalculated.” He identified the enemies as “the neo-Nazis in Kyiv, their Western patrons and other national traitors.”

Biden denied any involvement by the U.S. or NATO in the rebellion led by Prigozhin.

“We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it,” Biden said. “This was part of a struggle within the Russian system.”

DAY 5: PRIGOZHIN ARRIVES IN BELARUS

A private jet believed to belong to Prigozhin landed at an air base southwest of the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Belarusian President Lukashenko confirmed that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus.

Meanwhile, Moscow said preparations were underway for Wagner’s troops fighting in Ukraine, to hand over heavy weapons to Russia’s military.