26 June 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's government and President expressed support for the Russian government during the short-lived coup attempt by the Wagner mercenary group over the weekend, offering assistance in finding a resolution to the issue.
Following months of tensions between the Wagner group and the Russian Defence Ministry over the apparent lack of arms supplies and reinforcements for the group's fighters in Ukraine, the mercenary organisation's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced a march on Moscow and urged Russians to oppose the government.
The paramilitary fighters crossed the border into Russia, taking control of the city of Rostov-on-Don, as the group sent an armed convoy on its way to the Russian capital and many Russian citizens expressed support for the mercenaries. The situation appeared to place Russia closer to civil war than it has been in a century.
According to a statement by Turkiye's Presidency's Directorate of Communications yesterday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Saturday, held a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in which he expressed Ankara's readiness to contribute to a peaceful resolution to the situation in Russia.
Erdogan reportedly "stressed the importance of acting in accordance with common sense", as well as stating that Turkiye "was ready to make its own contribution to settling the situation in a peaceful and calm manner as soon as possible". The statement also revealed that Erdogan and Putin "stressed that no one should take advantage of the events in Russia".
The situation and potential uprising has, for now, died down after Belarusian President, Aleksandr Lukashenko, mediated a reported deal between the Russian government and the Wagner group. Although the full details of the agreement have neither been proclaimed nor fully revealed, it allowed Wagner fighters and members to withdraw into Belarus in return for Moscow dropping charges of treason and refraining from punishing Prigozhin and his mercenaries.
