Russia’s President Vladimir Putin delivers a video address, on June 24, 2023, as Wagner fighters stage rebel.
Gavriil Grigorov | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said much stays unknown in regards to the chaos that unfolded in Russia on Saturday, but that the interior clash exposed “cracks” within the nation that “weren’t there before.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a violent, attempted rebellion Saturday by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime Putin ally who led private mercenary fighters called the Wagner Group. But lower than 24 hours after Wagner mercenaries seemingly took control of the strategic southern city of Rostov and started an armed convoy march towards Moscow, Prigozhin abruptly announced the armed rebel was over.
In exchange for turning back, the criminal case against Prigozhin was dropped, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian reporters, in line with the state-controlled outlet TASS. Prigozhin himself “will go to Belarus,” Peskov said, describing what gave the impression to be a form of official exile.
Prigozhin has played a central role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, so his departure could ultimately change the course of the war. And though his rebel was short-lived, it marked probably the most serious challenge to Putin’s regime in a long time.
“That is just an added chapter to a really, very bad book that Putin has written for Russia,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
Blinken said Prigozhin has been chargeable for “horrible brutality” in Ukraine, and that in some ways, Prigozhin is Putin’s direct creation. He said it is just too soon to inform exactly what the rift between the 2 men will mean for Russia, but that the U.S. stays “intensely focused” on Ukraine.
Prigozhin’s direct challenge of Putin’s authority is “extraordinary,” Blinken added, as Prigozhin has managed to boost questions on the motivations for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the primary place.
He said the war has ultimately been “a devastating, strategic failure” for Putin.
“We have seen this aggression against Ukraine develop into a strategic failure across the board,” he said. “Russia is weaker economically, militarily, its standing around the globe has plummeted.”
Blinken expects the U.S. will learn more specifics in regards to the deal between Putin and Prigozhin, in addition to what is going to develop into of the Wagner Group, in the approaching weeks and months.
