Nipping Putin’s tactics in the bud
Biden: West had ‘nothing to do’ with Wagner uprising
06/26/2023, 8:27 p.m
Hardly anyone would seriously believe that the West had anything to do with the Wagner revolt in Russia last weekend. Nevertheless, US President Biden denies – quite explicitly – any involvement. In doing so, he wants to undermine Putin’s usual methods.
US President Joe Biden has denied any Western involvement in the revolt by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia. The West had “nothing to do” with the uprising, Biden told journalists in the White House. “It was part of a struggle within the Russian system.”
Biden said when speaking to allies after the Wagner revolt began, he and his counterparts noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be given any pretext for blaming the West and NATO. “We have made it clear that we are not involved,” said the US President. “We had nothing to do with it.”
Biden added that it is currently “too early” to draw “final conclusions” from the events of the past few days. “We will continue to assess the consequences of this weekend’s events and the impact on Russia and Ukraine.”
However, the US government sees the uprising of the mercenary troops as a new development in Russia. “It is certainly something new that President Putin’s leadership is being directly questioned,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We have seen the entire pretense for this war being publicly questioned.” The situation in Russia remains dynamic, Miller said.
When asked about the whereabouts of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, Miller said: “I have no assessment of his whereabouts.” The State Department spokesman also said that US officials had been in contact with the Russian leadership on Saturday. On the one hand, it was about reminding Russia of its obligation to protect the US embassy and diplomatic staff in Moscow. It was also reiterated that the uprising was an “internal Russian matter.”
USA prepared for different scenarios
Biden, who spent the weekend at Camp David, had instructed his national security team to update him hourly and prepare for a range of scenarios. It was the first time that he publicly commented on the uprising in Russia.
On Friday evening, the month-long power struggle between the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the Russian military leadership escalated. Wagner fighters invaded Russia from Ukraine, Prigozhin said the goal was to overthrow the military leadership in Moscow. After about 24 hours of uprising, Prigozhin surprisingly took a turn on Saturday evening and ordered his mercenaries back to their camps. According to the Kremlin, he and his mercenaries should go unpunished and Prigozhin should go into exile in Belarus.
Biden had phoned Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the situation in Russia on Saturday. Biden then spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday.