Putin thanks Xi for support in virtual meeting following brief Russian coup attempt

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders for their support during last week’s Wagner mutiny in a virtual meeting.

Putin extended his gratitude during a virtual meeting of the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, CNN reported, a little over a week after the Russian president’s apparent first serious challenge to his grip on power in over a decade. In attendance were Xi, India’s Narendra Modi, Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko, and Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, among others.

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“The solidarity and high responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly demonstrated by Russian political circles and the entire society by coming out as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion,” Putin said, referring to the Wagner mercenary group’s armed rebellion.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues from the (SCO) countries who have expressed support for the actions of the Russian leadership,” he continued.

Putin’s expression of gratitude may be to dissuade international suspicion of a rift between Russia and China after Xi remained mostly quiet during the short affair. The day after the end of the mutiny, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement of support while adding that the matter was part of Russia’s internal affairs.

“This is Russia’s internal affairs. As a friendly neighbor and a comprehensive strategic cooperation partner in the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” it said.

During the meeting, Xi implicitly offered a show of unity against the United States and the Western world.

“We must be highly vigilant against external forces inciting a ‘new cold war’ in the region and creating confrontation between camps, (and) resolutely oppose any country’s interference in internal affairs and instigation of ‘color revolutions,’” he said, referring to U.S. involvement in foreign democratic movements.

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Putin has scrambled to regain the appearance of normalcy after his former close ally, oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, suddenly marched his mercenary Wagner group toward Moscow, pledging to kill Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The mutiny ended following mediation from Lukashenko, but not before more than a dozen Russian airmen were killed after being shot down by Wagner troops.

Prigozhin has since gone into exile in Belarus, with the future of Wagner largely uncertain.