Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a video speech on June 24, 2023 as Wagner fighters wage an uprising.
Gavriil Grigorov | AFP | beautiful pictures
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there are still many unknowns about the chaos unfolding in Russia on Saturdaybut the internal strife has revealed “fissures” in the country that “were not there before.”
President of Russia Putin faced a violent uprising, attempted on Saturday by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime Putin ally who leads private mercenaries known as the Wagner Group. But less than 24 hours after Wagner mercenaries had apparently taken control of the strategic southern city of Rostov and had begun an armed convoy marching toward Moscow, Prigozhin abruptly announced the armed uprising had ended. end.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian reporters that, according to the state-controlled TASS news agency, in exchange for the withdrawal, the criminal case against Prigozhin was dropped. Prigozhin himself “will go to Belarus,” Peskov said, describing what appeared to be a form of official exile.
Prigozhin played a central role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, so his departure could ultimately change the course of the war. And while his revolt was short-lived, it marked the most serious challenge to Putin’s regime in decades.
“This is just an added chapter to a very, very bad book that Putin wrote for Russia,” Blinken told CNN Sunday’s “State of the Union.”
Blinken said Prigozhin was responsible for “terrible atrocities” in Ukraine, and that in many ways Prigozhin was a direct product of Putin. He said it was too early to say exactly what the rift between the two men would mean for Russia, but the US remained “highly focused” on Ukraine.
Blinken added that Prigozhin’s direct challenge to Putin’s power was “unusual”, as Prigozhin raised questions about Russia’s motives for invading Ukraine in the first place.
He said the war was ultimately “a devastating strategic defeat” for Putin.
“We have seen this invasion against Ukraine turn into a large-scale strategic defeat,” he said. “Russia is weaker economically, militarily, its position in the world has plummeted.”
Blinken expects the United States to learn more specifics about the agreement between Putin and Prigozhin, as well as what will happen to the Wagner Group, in the coming weeks and months.
