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President Joe Biden. | Photo by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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President Joe Biden on Monday distanced the United States and its Western allies from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary force’s protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden said that neither the U.S. nor its allies had any role in the attempted mutiny in Russia. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “no excuse” to blame the West for the situation. As the crisis unfolded over the weekend, Biden said he met virtually with U.S. allies to discuss a coordinated approach.
In his first public comments since the surprising armed rebellion in Russia, Biden characterized the situation as part of a struggle within the Russian system. Speaking at the White House, Biden told a crowd gathered in the East Room for an infrastructure event that he had directed his national security team last weekend to monitor the situation reporting to him “hour by hour,” and to prepare for “a range of scenarios.”
He also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last weekend, with another conversation poised to take place later Monday or Tuesday morning.
Biden said discussions with allies would continue regarding a coordinated response and “what to anticipate.” He also stressed that they wanted to be sure that Putin couldn’t blame this on the West or on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“We’re going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications from Russia and Ukraine, but it’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going,” Biden said.
“The ultimate outcome of all this remains to be seen, but no matter what comes next, I will keep making sure that our allies and our partners are closely aligned in how we are reading and responding to the situation,” the president added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russian special services were investigating Western intelligence services’ potential involvement in the rebellion, but he did not provide evidence of Western involvement.
On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner Group, began an armed rebellion after he accused the Russian military of attacking one of the Wagner Group’s camps. The Wagner Group, which had been fighting alongside Russian troops in the war against Ukraine, subsequently claimed control over Russian military facilities in Voronezh and Rostov, Russia’s logistical hub for its invasion of Ukraine.
Troops from the group marched toward Moscow, but before they made it to the capital, Prigozhin and Putin struck an 11th-hour deal to stave off a likely invasion of the city. The deal’s terms allowed Prigozhin to move to Belarus, and no one involved in the armed uprising would face criminal charges, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Prigozhin said the Wagner Group’s offensive was in response to being attacked, and the intention was not to overthrow the Russian government. He claimed the march was an attempt to bring accountability to Russian officials, who, through their “unprofessional actions,” committed many errors, including Russian forces allegedly killing 30 of his mercenaries. Prigozhin said this was in retaliation for his commanders refusal to sign government contracts.
The Wagner paramilitary force has fought alongside Russia’s regular army in the Ukraine invasion.
Forbes reports that the Wagner Group has earned millions from Russian government contracts and mining deals.
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