The White Home is seen on June 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Biden returns to the White House today after spending the weekend at Camp David.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday that america was not involved within the aborted weekend rebel in Russia led by the leader of the mercenary Wagner Group.
“We made clear we usually are not involved, we had nothing to do with it, this was a part of a struggle throughout the Russian system,” Biden said from the White House.
Biden said he monitored developments as they unfolded along with his security team and spoke with close allies over Zoom. They agreed not to permit Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible the situation on the West or NATO, he added.
“It’s still too early to achieve a definitive conclusion about where that is going. The final word end result of all this stays to be seen,” Biden said. “But regardless of what comes next, I’ll keep ensuring that our allies and our partners are closely aligned in how we’re reading and responding to situations.”
Biden said he also spoke at length with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to guarantee him america would keep supporting Ukraine’s defense as Russia continues its assault on his country.
Biden said he was convening a call with heads of state after he finished his remarks to make sure they’re “on the identical page.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, took control of the strategic city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday and advanced a military inside 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow. The rebel lasted lower than 24 hours, but marked a major challenge to Putin’s control of the nation.
The revolt ended after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal between Prigozhin and the Kremlin.
Prigozhin, whose private army has supplemented Russian troops during Putin’s assault on Ukraine, had criticized Russian military leaders throughout the campaign.
The mercenary chief on Monday denied he planned to overthrow Putin, in response to an NBC News translation.
Prigozhin in an audio address said he acted to stop the “destruction” of the military group after an attack on a Wagner camp.
The revolt got here after greater than 15 months of war in Ukraine, where Wagner has been within the thick of a number of the fiercest fighting.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that “we’re focused on what is going on on in Ukraine.” He called the rebel “an internal Russian matter.”
Kirby also said it was “too soon to know what impacts this may have on Ukraine, on Russia and the remaining of Europe.”