What to Make of the Russian Defense Minister’s Appearance After the Wagner Mutiny

Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance since an aborted mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries over the weekend.

A 47-second video clip released Monday by state media agency RIA and reposted on the defense ministry’s Telegram page, appears to show Shoigu visiting Russian troops in Ukraine. It is unclear when the visit to the Western military district took place.

The appearance is being interpreted as a show of solidarity between the Kremlin and Shoigu. John Foreman, the former U.K. defense attache to Moscow, told Newsweek that the video shows “Putin is sticking by” Shoigu. It also reinforces that the minister remains in charge after Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for his removal and described Russia’s military leadership as “evil.” Shoigu is a longtime friend and collaborator of Putin and was credited with the military seizure of Crimea in 2014.

Prigozhin made the comments about Shoigu as he led a “march for justice” toward Moscow to remove what the paramilitary group had alluded to as Russia’s corrupt leadership: “They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word ‘justice’, and we will bring it back,” he said in a statement shared to social media. Prigozhin also said Shoigu was responsible for thousands of Russian deaths in the on-going war, and accused him of misleading Putin about the reality of battle on the ground.

Prigozhin–once a businessman known as “Putin’s chef” due a history of catering contracts with the Kremlin—was accused of treason and Putin pledged in a televised address to punish anyone deemed to have betrayed Russia. “Anyone who consciously went on the path of betrayal, who prepared the armed mutiny, went on the path of blackmail and terrorist actions, will take an inevitable punishment,” he said.

Read More: Wagner Group’s Revolt in Russia Ends After Deal Struck. Here’s What to Know

Wagner troops retreated to a Russia-held area of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal to terminate the mutiny, brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. The terms of the agreement stipulated that Prigozhin leave for Belarus and that his fighters withdraw from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and return to their camps in exchange for legal immunity. Prigozhin, who was cheered on by supporters as he departed, will remain under investigation by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on suspicion of organizing armed mutiny, an anonymous source told Russian newspaper Kommersant, Al Jazeera reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC’s Meet the Press that the weekend’s events were “extraordinary” and that having to defend Moscow from a former ally showed a vulnerability in Putin’s position. “I think we’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade,” Blinken told the outlet.” It is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there. But certainly we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead.”

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden has been in close contact with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss these recent events, the White House said in a statement on Sunday. “They discussed Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive, and President Biden reaffirmed unwavering US support, including through continued security, economic, and humanitarian aid,” it said.

Since the start of its counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces have liberated up to 130 square kilometers of territory along the southern frontline from Russia, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said Monday. “The situation in the south has not undergone significant changes over the past week,” she told the country’s national broadcaster, noting that in the week prior, around 250 clashes had taken place across the eastern section of the front line.

With Ukraine advancing, and Russia facing internal conflict, the state of play appears fragile. The Russian ruble hit a 15-month low against the U.S. dollar in the early hours of Monday as markets responded to a weekend of instability, Reuters reported. The ruble was down by 2.1% against the dollar since Friday, a low not seen since last March.

“The political system is showing fragilities, and the military power is cracking,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting with ministers. “It’s not a good thing to see that a nuclear power like Russia can go into a phase of political instability,” Borrell added. Borrell said that Putin had created a “monster” by consenting to the creation of the Wagner Group as a private militia that was subordinate to the Russian state. “The monster is biting him now, the monster is acting against his creator.”