Washington — President Biden stated on Monday that the United States and its allies have made it clear to Moscow that they were not involved in the recent uprising of the Wagner mercenary group in Russia. He described it as “part of an internal struggle within the Russian system.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner, led an armed rebellion against Russia’s military leaders, accusing them of mishandling the war in Ukraine and criticizing President Vladimir Putin. Wagner fighters appeared to have taken control of the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, which oversees the fighting in Ukraine, and were advancing towards Moscow until they were ordered back to their field camps when a truce brokered by Belarus was announced between Putin and Prigozhin.
President Biden said that he consulted with U.S. allies over the weekend to coordinate a response to the rebellion and instructed his national security team to prepare for various scenarios.
“They agreed with me that we needed to ensure that Putin had no excuse—let me emphasize, no excuse—to blame the West or NATO for this,” stated President Biden. “We made it clear that we had no involvement and nothing to do with it. This was an internal struggle within the Russian system.”
The details of the agreement between Putin and Prigozhin to end the rebellion are vague. As part of the truce, Prigozhin had agreed to move to Belarus to avoid prosecution. However, Russian authorities announced on Monday that the criminal charges had not yet been dropped.
In a statement on Monday, Prigozhin, whose whereabouts are unknown, stated that the mutiny was not aimed at overthrowing the Russian government but rather to prevent the loss of the Wagner group’s autonomy to the Russian military. This mutiny posed one of the most significant challenges to Putin’s leadership. President Biden stated that the U.S. is still assessing the fallout and the implications for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going,” President Biden remarked. “The ultimate outcome of all this remains to be seen.” He also assured that the U.S. and its allies would continue to support Ukraine regardless of what happens in Russia.
The president had a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to reaffirm U.S. support for the country and the events in Russia.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in
for more features.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
