US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes the armed uprising attempt from Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin and the way it was stopped revealed real cracks in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority.
The Wagner uprising created “a direct challenge to Putin’s power”, said Blinken in an interview to CBS programme Face The Nation.
Blinken’s statements are the first public comments from the US administration about the recent events in Russia.
Last Friday Prigozhin announced Wagner Group entered Russia from Ukraine on the way to Moscow to overthrow Russia’s military commanders. Mercenaries took over Rostov-on-Don and reached Voronezh and Lipetsk on their way to Moscow, prompting the capital city to start protection measures.
In the evening on Saturday, however, Prigozhin announced his mercenaries had stopped on their way to Moscow, and that they will turn around. Later the same day the governor of Rostov Vasily Golubev announced Wagner forces were returning to field camps outside Rostov-on-Don.
Kremlin allowed Prigozhin to move to Belarus. Wagner Group mercenaries will be relieved of criminal liability for the armed uprising, as confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press-secretary Dmitry Peskov, adding that the Kremlin is not aware what Prigozhin will be doing in Belarus.
Blinken, who took part in several shows recently, said it is too soon to speculate about the consequences this whole ordeal will have on the Kremlin or the war in Ukraine. He admitted that the chain of events was unusual, considering it was Putin’s close ally who suddenly decided to act against the Russian leader and put the centre of power in Kremlin at risk.
16 months ago Russian armies were at the gates of Kyiv, whereas last week Russian forces had to take measures to defend Moscow from the mercenaries created by Putin himself, Blinken told ABC News programme This Week. He said Prigozhin’s stunt has created deep questions about the justification behind Russia’s aggression against Ukraine by saying that neither Ukraine nor NATO had created any threats to Russia. All of this, he said, is part of Putin’s narrative, Blinken said.
Putin, in his late speech on the 24th of June, accused Prigozhin of treason and promised to punish those guilty,
but then agreed to an amnesty agreement, according to which the head of Wagner Group will move to Belarus and avoid criminal prosecution.
Blinken said Moscow’s distraction with the uprising created opportunities for Ukraine in its counter-offensive against Russian forces. However, the said there is no way to tell for certain where things will go after this.
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