President Joe Biden said it was still too early to determine the impact of a revolt by a mercenary group that left Russian leader Vladimir Putin facing the biggest threat to his grip on the country after nearly a quarter century in power.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden said it was still too early to determine the impact of a revolt by a mercenary group that left Russian leader Vladimir Putin facing the biggest threat to his grip on the country after nearly a quarter century in power.
“The outcome of all this remains to be seen. But no matter what comes next, I will keep making sure that our allies and our partners are closely aligned in how we are reading and responding to the situation,” said Biden, in his first public remarks on the mutiny, during a White House event on Monday.
“We’re going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine. It is still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where it is going,” he added.
Biden said he had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that “no matter what happened in Russia,” the US and its allies would remain committed to Ukraine’s defense.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary Wagner Group, in an apparent rebellion took his forces to within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow on Saturday. Prigozhin was seeking the ouster of Putin’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and other top officials, accusing them of mishandling the invasion of Ukraine and of attempting to “destroy” his Wagner group.
Putin denounced the moves as “treason” and threatened punishment. But Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal in which Prigozhin ended the revolt in return for Putin letting him travel to Belarus and dropping criminal charges against Wagner fighters.
Read more: Putin Faces Historic Threat to Absolute Grip on Power in Russia
Prigozhin broke his silence Monday, saying he had no intention of ousting Putin’s government.
The dramatic events from the uprising have left the US and Europe trying to determine what spurred the unprecedented challenge to Putin’s authority, the consequences of the deal between him and Prigozhin, and the impact on Ukraine, which has launched a counteroffensive to retake land lost to Russia in its invasion.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.