House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin from the Wagner mercenary group over the weekend showed that he has become “isolated” and “slow to make decisions.”
(Bloomberg) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin from the Wagner mercenary group over the weekend showed that he has become “isolated” and “slow to make decisions.”
In an interview Tuesday on CNBC, the California Republican said that Putin in the past would never have allowed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to become powerful enough to mount a mutiny against the Russian government.
“Prigozhin was very public for the last month or so criticizing Putin severely like nobody else has done,” McCarthy said. “He threatened many different ways. The Putin of old, Prigozhin would have fallen out a window or something. This would have never sustained itself.”
On Monday, Putin said Russia had averted “civil war” following the armed rebellion led by Prigozhin that marked the biggest threat to Putin’s 24-year-rule. The Russian leader pledged to honor a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for Prigozhin to go to Belarus.
A private jet used by Prigozhin landed in Belarus at the military airbase Machulishchi from St. Petersburg early Tuesday, according to the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun, which cited air traffic data. It wasn’t immediately clear if Prigozhin was on board the aircraft. He hasn’t been seen since ending the revolt late Saturday.
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