UPDATED 10:03 A.M.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The unprecedented challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin by Wagner fighters has exposed fresh “cracks” in the strength of his leadership that may take weeks or months to play out, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the final act,” Blinken said on ABC News, in one of a series of interviews after an aborted mutiny by forces led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Blinken said tensions that sparked the action had been rising for months and the turmoil could affect Moscow’s military capabilities in Ukraine.
“We’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It is too soon to tell exactly where they go, and when they get there. But certainly, we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
Blinken described the turmoil as an “internal matter” for Putin.
“Our focus is resolutely and relentlessly on Ukraine, making sure that it has what it needs to defend itself and to take back territory that Russia seized,” Blinken said.
U.S. officials expect to learn more in coming days and weeks about the events that unfolded in Russia, including details of the deal with Prigozhin mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that led Wagner fighters to return to their bases.
“It may be that Putin didn’t want to debase himself to the level of negotiating directly with Prigozhin,” Blinken said.
Forces led by Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and conflict, have fought the bloodiest of battles in Russia’s 16-month war in Ukraine.
“To the extent that the Russians are distracted and divided it may make their prosecution of aggression against Ukraine more difficult,” Blinken told ABC’s “This Week” program.
Blinken said neither the United States nor the Russian nuclear posture had changed as a result of the crisis.
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin said the weekend turmoil in Russia does not ease Washington’s need to continue aiding Ukraine as it launches its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia.
“This is a critical time for Ukraine. This counteroffensive is going to be defining as to where we’re going to be in the next year or two,” Cardin, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News. “So it’s incredibly important that we maintain our support and not be fooled by what’s happening in Russia today as to the needs of the Ukrainians.”
(Reporting by David Morgan, Hannah Lang and Tyler Clifford; Editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter)
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(Reuters) – Russian state television on Sunday showed Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing confidence in plans for Ukraine in an interview that appeared to have been recorded before Saturday’s aborted revolt by the Wagner group of mercenaries.
“We feel confident, and, of course, we are in a position to implement all the plans and tasks ahead of us,” Putin said. “This also applies to the country’s defence, it applies to the special military operation, it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas.”
The comments in an interview with Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin were broadcast by Rossiya state television. Zarubin said the interview was done after a meeting with military graduates, in an apparent reference to an event held on Wednesday.
The full interview was due to be broadcast later on Sunday.
The short report did not mention Saturday’s revolt, in which Wagner mercenaries took a southern city before heading toward Moscow. In a televised address before the drama was defused and the group stopped their advance, Putin said the rebellion put Russia’s very existence under threat.
In its daily briefing on Sunday the Defence Ministry also did not mention anything about the actions of Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Asked in the interview how much time he dedicates to what Russia calls its special military operation, Putin said: “Of course, this is paramount, every day starts and ends with this.”
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Maxim Rodionov; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by David Goodman and Frances Kerry)
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