<\/p>\n
Former President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday that Russia would not allow a mutiny led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to turn into a coup or a global crisis, state news agency TASS reported on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Responding to reporters’ questions, Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the entire world would be on the brink of catastrophe if Russian nuclear weapons fell into the hands of “bandits.”<\/p>\n
Prigozhin, a former convict and longtime ally of Putin, heads Wagner, a private army that includes thousands of ex-prisoners recruited from Russian prisons.<\/p>\n
His men faced some of the fiercest fighting of Ukraine’s 16-month war, including the long battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.<\/p>\n
A supporter of Wagner’s private mercenary group holds flags near the headquarters of the southern military district controlled by Wagner’s fighters in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24, 2023. (Credit: STRINGER\/ Reuters)<\/span><\/p>\n He lashed out for months at the top of the regular army, accusing the generals of incompetence and withholding ammunition from their fighters. This month, he defied orders to sign a contract that placed his troops under the command of the Ministry of Defence.<\/p>\n He launched the apparent mutiny on Friday after claiming the army had killed many of his fighters in an airstrike. The Ministry of Defense denied it.\n <\/p>\n