According to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, the weekend uprising was an attempt to ensure the group's survival.
The overthrow of the government was not the goal of the uprising, in which Wagner seized a Russian city and led a military column towards Moscow, he continued.
Since he decided to put an end to the extraordinary events, it was Prigozhin's first public statement.
He put an end to the mutiny so that "the blood of Russian soldiers would not be spilled.".
Prigozhin insisted he had not intended to oppose Vladimir Putin's rule in the 11-minute audio message that was shared on Telegram, but he avoided mentioning Putin by name.
Instead, he claimed, the mutiny was a protest against government plans to seize control of Wagner, a private army of mercenaries that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine. It was also a response to mistakes made by government officials during the conflict with Ukraine, he claimed.
The march's objective, he explained, was to prevent the destruction of Wagner PMC and to hold accountable those responsible for the numerous errors made during the special military operation.
It was widely believed that Russia's announcement in June that "volunteer formations" would be required to sign Ministry of Defense contracts posed a threat to Prigozhin's control over Wagner.
It happened following several weeks of Prigozhin's increasingly scathing criticism of the manner in which the Russian military leadership was managing the conflict.
Wagner being removed from his chain of command would result in the "full loss of combat capability" in its war with Ukraine, according to Prigozhin, who claimed only 1 to 2 percent of his fighters had chosen to sign government contracts.
Wagner had a history of presence in many regions of the world before its involvement in Ukraine.
The group will remain in Africa, including the Central African Republic and Mali, where Wagner has its strongest presence on the continent, according to earlier comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Following months of escalating hostilities between Wagner and Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister of Russia, Wagner rebelled last week.
When Wagner mercenaries crossed the border from their field camps in Ukraine and entered Rostov-on-Don in the south, where Russia's war is being led from, intra-party fighting reached a boiling point on Friday night.
A column of military vehicles then reportedly moved north, toward Moscow, while they took control of the local military command.
Furthermore, according to Prigozhin, his "march of justice" exposed "serious security issues across the nation.".
If Wagner forces had been involved in the initial stages of the invasion, the "special operation in Ukraine" would have ended much sooner, he claimed.
When Wagner mercenaries shot down oncoming helicopters, Prigozhin acknowledged that the march had caused the deaths of some Russian soldiers.
He continued by saying that a missile attack by Russian soldiers in Rostov also resulted in the deaths of about 30 of his fighters. The BBC has not yet confirmed his assertion.
However, he went on to say that "not a single soldier was killed on the ground.".
He said, "We're sorry we had to hit the aircraft, but they were hitting us with bombs and missiles.".
Prigozhin is still the subject of a Russian investigation despite the Kremlin's claim that all criminal charges had been dropped against him, according to Russian state media.
The mercenary boss mentioned the mediation role played by Belarusian President Alexsander Lukashenko in his Telegram message, but he did not specify where he was.
He claimed that Wagner had been given a way to preserve its "legal jurisdiction" by Mr. Lukashenko.
