For the first time since the Wagner mutiny, Russia showed the Defense Minister

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Russia has released pictures of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu meeting troops, the first time he has been portrayed publicly since the weekend uprising by Chieftain Yevgeny Prigozhin against senior military leadership.

Brief video posted by the Defense Ministry on Monday showed Shoigu inspecting a Russian command point and listening to a report from subordinates about the progress of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

It is unclear when or where the video was filmed. There has been speculation that Putin agreed to his removal as part of a deal with Prigozhin to end the rebellion, although the Kremlin has denied this.

The Defense Ministry said that Shoigu heard a report from Yevgeny Nikiforov, commander of Russia’s Western Military District, about “the current situation, the nature of the enemy’s activities and the fulfillment of (the army’s) combat tasks in the main strategic directions”.

Shoigu praised the Russian military for its “high effectiveness” and ordered them to “expose the enemy’s plans and prevent them from being realized”.

The video can be seen as an attempt to portray a return to business as usual two days after Prigozhin’s men marched to Moscow and killed at least a dozen Russian soldiers.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russia was ending its “anti-terrorist campaign” in the capital and thanked Muscovites “for their calmness and understanding”.

Russia introduced anti-terror measures in several regions on Saturday but is now trying to give the impression that life is going on as normal and its invasion of Ukraine continues as before.

Usually associated with efforts to suppress Islamic insurgencies in the North Caucasus region, the sweeping measures allow the FSB, Russia’s main security service, to detain anyone, confiscate anything, raid any location and disrupt all communications. He gives you the powers to do so.

Prigozhin and his Wagner paramilitary troops withdrew from southern Russia on Sunday after reaching an agreement with the Kremlin to end their armed insurgency in the biggest crisis since Vladimir Putin’s presidency.

The usually publicity-loving ex-caterer maintained a rare silence on Saturday evening after ending his rebellion. The Kremlin said he would travel to Belarus following an agreement mediated by the country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigozhin’s press office told Russian broadcaster RTVI on Sunday afternoon that Sardar “says hello to everyone and will answer questions when he has good (mobile phone) reception”. He left the city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday evening, according to video footage released by Russian state news agency RIA, with crowds cheering for the leader of the Wagner Group.

Despite an agreement with Prigozhin to end the crisis, the uprising and Putin’s extraordinary response on Saturday, when he likened the threat to the 1917 revolution, have raised serious doubts about the stability of his regime.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a phone call on Sunday with US President Joe Biden, who was at his Camp David retreat: “Yesterday’s events exposed the weakness of Putin’s regime.”

In a subsequent video address, Zelensky said: “The longer Russia’s aggression continues, the more likely Russia will decline.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the uprising showed “real cracks” in Putin’s authority. “It raises serious questions. , , We know Putin has a lot to answer for in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken said.

Blinken called Crisis an “opening story”, and added: “I think we’re in the middle of a moving picture. We haven’t seen the last act.”