Putin confirms Russian pilots killed during aborted mutiny

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with the heads of Russian law enforcement agencies at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP photo)

There has been no official information about how many pilots died or how many aircraft were shot down.

Some Russian Telegram channels monitoring Russia’s military activity, including the blog Rybar with more than a million subscribers, reported on Saturday that 13 Russian pilots were killed during the day-long mutiny.

Among the aircraft downed were three Mi-8 MTPR electronic warfare helicopters, and an Il-18 aircraft with its crew, Rybar reported.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. It was also not clear in what circumstances the aircraft were shot down and pilots killed.

Putin said he had deliberately let Saturday’s mutiny go on as long as it did to avoid bloodshed, blaming Wagner for the deaths that did occur.

“They lied to them, they pushed them to death: under fire, to shoot their own,” Putin said.

Without mentioning Prigozhin’s name in his speech, Putin said Wagner fighters who decided not to sign contracts with the army under a Defence Ministry order could either relocate to Belarus or simply return to their families.

One senior Russian lawmaker, however, called for punishment.

“I believe that forgiveness should not apply to those rebels who killed the pilots, in fact, their comrades-in-arms,” lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, who has been involved in a number of negotiations related to Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine.

“These people should be brought to justice and suffer the most severe punishment.”