MOSCOW: Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday praised his army’s “loyalty” during an armed uprising last month by the Wagner military group that targeted the country’s senior military leadership.

“The plans primarily failed because the personnel of the Armed Forces showed loyalty to their oath and military duty,” he said in his first public comments since the insurrection.

He also said Russian military personnel serving in Ukraine had “courageously and selflessly continued to solve the tasks assigned to them,” according to the comments carried by news agencies.

The head of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin was a firebrand critic of Shoigu prior to his effort to oust the defence minister and chief of staff Valery Gerasimov.

Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin in standoff with Russian army amid ‘armed mutiny’

State television broadcasted images of Shoigu inspecting Russian troops in Ukraine just days after the armed mutiny late last month, footage observers said was filmed prior to the mutiny.

He later appeared in a meeting with Vladimir Putin, without making any public statements.

Several senior officials have not appeared in public since the insurrection including Gerasimov and general Sergei Surovikin, fuelling rumours of their possible ouster.