The short-lived rebellion by the mercenary group posed a serious challenge to Vladimir Putin’s rule in Russia
Joe Biden has described the Wagner mercenary group’s brief mutiny against the Russian government as part of an internal power struggle, in which he said the US played no role.
“We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it,” Biden said during an event at the White House on Monday. “We’re going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine. But it’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s revolt, in which Wagner fighters seized the city of Rostov and headed toward Moscow in an armed convoy, was a dramatic and unprecedented public challenge to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. But after a chaotic 24 hours, Prigozhin announced on Saturday that he would stand down after reaching a deal with government officials.
Biden and other western allies supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion have made a pointed effort of being seen to stay out of the uprising, the biggest threat to Putin in his two decades leading Russia.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, warned that there was a risk of advancing what he described as Russian propaganda and that the best approach would be to not get involved.
