The failed coup by the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, Evguéni Prigojine, reveals “real cracks” that affect President Vladimir Putin, the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday.
“He directly challenged Putin’s authority. Therefore, he raises real questions and reveals real cracks” at the highest level of the Russian state, the US secretary of state said on CBS.
>> Wagner’s rebellion in Russia: follow our direct
“An extra advantage” for Ukraine
The United States, which has held intensive consultations with its European allies over the past 24 hours on the crisis in Russia, has so far refrained from commenting directly on these events.
Antony Blinken himself discussed the situation in Russia on Saturday with his counterparts from the G7 countries, as well as Poland and Turkey.
In rounds of Sunday television broadcasts, he still considered it “too early” to speculate on the impact of the crisis in Russia or the war in Ukraine.
But “to the extent that attention is diverted from Russia … this creates, I think, an additional advantage” for Ukraine in the midst of an offensive against Russian forces, he said.
“It is too soon to know how this is going to end. It’s an evolving picture,” he said, “but the fact that there is someone on the inside questioning Putin’s authority and directly questioning why he launched this aggression on Ukraine, that in itself is a very powerful thing.”
“They had to defend Moscow from mercenaries that they themselves created,” he insisted again, insisting on the “strategic failure” of the Russian president in Ukraine.
Source: BFM TV
