Putin praises security forces for upholding constitutional order, preventing civil war in Russia

​​​​​​​By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday thanked the country's security forces for upholding the constitutional order and demonstrating their loyalty to the people and military oath, saying they had stopped a civil war.

Putin said at a gathering in the Kremlin in front of defense and interior ministry units, the Russian Guard, Federal Security Service (FSB), and Federal Service of Guard (FSO), that they "ensured law and order at the time of the mutiny."

"Today, here, on the historic Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin, stand servicemen of the armed forces of Russia, employees of the Russian Guard, FSB, Interior Ministry, FSO, soldiers and officers, real defenders of the Fatherland, who, in a difficult hour for the country, together with their comrades, stood in the way of turmoil, the result of which would inevitably be chaos.

"You have protected the constitutional order, the life, security, and freedom of our citizens, saved our homeland from shocks, and actually stopped the civil war," he said.

The president lauded security forces’ work as "accurate and well-coordinated," noting that the servicemen "in deed proved their loyalty to the people of Russia and military oath," making it unnecessary to call off the forces engaged in the "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The ceremony concluded with a minute of silence to honor the pilots, who were killed during the mutiny.

On June 24, the head of the paramilitary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused the Russian Defense Ministry of attacking its fighters, declared "A March of Justice," and set off toward Moscow, saying in a statement that he was going "to overthrow military chiefs."

The Federal Security Service designated Wagner Group's actions "an armed rebellion" and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while Putin called the paramilitary private company's uprising an act of "treason."

Later that day, Prigozhin and his fighters decided to turn back "to avoid bloodshed" when they were 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Moscow.

Belarusian President Lukashenko said he contributed to the settlement by holding talks with the Wagner’s head, which led to Prigozhin's decision to accept a de-escalation deal.