Earlier on Friday, drone footage showed a Russian troop wiped out by a bomb
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The Wagner Group’s rebellion shows that “cracks” are beginning to form in Putin’s power, the US has said.
Although it was short-lived, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the riot was a “direct challenge to Putin’s authority”.
Blinken told US media: “We’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It’s too early to say exactly where they go … but certainly we have all sorts of new questions that Putin will have to address in the coming weeks and months.”
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin will be exiled from Russia to Belarus as part of a truce agreed with Vladimir Putin after an explosive armed rebellion erupted in Moscow on Saturday.
The riot was called off at 11 a.m., as Prigozhin said he wanted to “avoid bloodshed.” Wagner’s forces were about four hours away from Moscow when news of the dramatic turn arrived.
His decision to halt Wagner’s soldiers’ assault on Moscow saved him and his men from facing criminal charges over the coup attempt, the Kremlin said.
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The fallout from Wagner’s rebellion in Russia is a “domestic matter” that will not affect the UK’s continued support for Ukraine, a cabinet minister has said.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen made the comments as the fallout from the mercenary group’s departure in Moscow continues.
The group’s forces, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, were only 120 miles from Moscow before the rebellion was called off to avoid spilling Russian blood.
He has been exiled to Belarus after a last-minute deal was negotiated with Vladimir Putin’s government.
The deal will see charges against him for mounting an armed rebellion dropped.
Lucy SkouldingJune 25, 2023 8:00 p.m
The new Russian revolution did not happen. Vladimir Putin may be greatly weakened, but he has not been deposed. Yevgeny Prigozhin is not in Moscow, but on his way to Minsk. There are still no signs that the Kremlin’s military lines in Ukraine are collapsing.
It was not entirely unexpected by some. American and Western intelligence agencies, it has been discovered, had begun to learn a few days ago that the Wagner Group, Prigozhin’s mercenary army, would soon be on the move.
Not against the Ukrainians, but back in Russia and ready for armed confrontation with Russian forces.
The information, according to Western security officials, as well as one from a Baltic state, had been drawn from satellite images of heavy weapons movement, troop redeployment and interception of communications that have proven so valuable in predicting Putin’s invasion before it began.
Lucy SkouldingJune 25, 2023 7:30 p.m
Lithuanian President
Gitanas Nausėda, the president of Lithuania, says NATO will have to strengthen its eastern flank in order for Belarus to host Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Nauseda said: “If Prigozhin or part of the Wagner group ends up in Belarus with unclear plans and unclear intentions, it will only mean that we will have to further strengthen the security of our eastern borders.
“I’m not just talking about Lithuania here, but certainly about the whole of NATO.”
The president added that he believes Putin will face more challenges to his leadership.
Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania
(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Lucy SkouldingJune 25, 2023 7:00 p.m
Wagner Group mutiny shows ‘cracks’ in Putin’s power, US says
Although it didn’t last long, the Wagner Group’s rebellion shows that Putin’s power is weakening, according to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Blinken told US media: “We’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It’s too early to say exactly where they go … but certainly we have all sorts of new questions that Putin will have to address in the coming weeks and months.”
The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, initially questioned the premise of the Ukraine war, which led to a “direct challenge to Putin himself,” according to Blinken.
He added: “This raises many profound questions that will be answered in the coming days and weeks.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly (left) and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
(PA)
Lucy SkouldingJune 25, 2023 6:37 p.m
Russian state television’s Dmitri Kiselyov says the resolution of the Wagner Group mutiny shows Russia is united
BBC Monitoring’s Francis Scarr has shared a clip of Russian state broadcaster Dmitry Kiselyov on Twitter.
Kiselyov said the swift resolution of the Wagner Group mutiny shows that Russia is united as a nation.
Scarr tweeted: “On his flagship Sunday night news show, state TV’s Dmitri Kiselyov claimed that the resolution of the Wagner mutiny proved that Russia is a united nation.
“He also dug up an old clip of Putin saying he can forgive many things, but not ‘treason’.”
Lucy SkouldingJune 25, 2023 6:15 p.m
Repressive Belarus is an awkward landing spot for a rebellious Russian mercenary boss
Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was known for unbridled and profane defiance of authority even before the attempted rebellion he mounted on Saturday. The reported agreement for him to go into exile in Belarus would place him in a country where such behavior is even less acceptable than in his homeland.
Prigozhin on Sunday remained unusually silent as Wagner’s private army forces withdrew from Russian cities after an announcement from the Kremlin that he was agreeing to march into Belarus; it’s still unclear if it’s actually there.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly brokered the deal. But Prigozhin’s maverick ways are at odds with Lukashenko’s harsh crackdown on dissent and independent media. In power since 1994, the leader often called “Europe’s last dictator” launched a brutal crackdown on the 2020 protests against his government; hundreds were sentenced to long prison terms, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 25, 2023 6:00 p.m
What is Wagner’s group of mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
The Wagner Group is a private military company controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin that cut deployments to Crimea and the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and has since sent troops to various conflicts in the East Middle and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.
In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has proven indispensable, but an apparent power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr. Prigozhin has had Moscow clip the wings of the group.
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 25, 2023 5:30 p.m
‘We haven’t heard the last of Prigozhin’, says Lord Dannatt after Wagner boss goes into exile
The former Chief of Staff of the United Kingdom, Lord Richard Dannatt, has spoken about the fate of the head of the mercenary group Wagner after the events in Russia in the last 24 hours.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who ordered his troops to march on Moscow, suddenly struck a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile in Belarus and sounded the alarm on Saturday evening (June 24).
However, Lord Dannatt doesn’t think we’ve “heard the last” of the rebel mercenary commander.
“We haven’t heard the last of Prigozhin, but we may have started to hear about the last days of Vladimir Putin,” he told BBC Breakfast.
‘We haven’t heard the last of Prigozhin’, says Lord Dannatt after Wagner boss goes into exile
The former Chief of Staff of the United Kingdom, Lord Richard Dannatt, has spoken about the fate of the head of the mercenary group Wagner after the events in Russia in the last 24 hours. Yevgeny Prigozhin, who ordered his troops to march on Moscow, suddenly struck a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile in Belarus and sounded the alarm on Saturday evening (June 24). However, Lord Dannatt doesn’t think we’ve “heard the last” of the rebel mercenary commander. “We haven’t heard the last of Prigozhin, but we may have started to hear about the last days of Vladimir Putin,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 25, 2023 5:00 p.m
Mapped: Inside the Russian Wagner group road to Moscow
Brazen Russian mercenary fighters had their efforts branded “treasonous” by Vladimir Putin after the shocking breakthrough that began on Friday evening.
The mutiny, called off when troops were just four hours from the Russian capital in a deal brokered by Belarus, marked one of the most explosive episodes in the country’s war saga so far.
The move came after group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Kremlin of deliberately bombing Wagner’s troops in Bakhmut.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense has described the handover as “the most significant challenge to the Russian state” in a series of events that will put the city firmly on the map.
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 25, 2023 4:30 p.m
China expresses support for Russia after aborted uprising
China is supporting Russia to maintain its national stability, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday, a day after an abortive mutiny by the Wagner group of heavily armed mercenaries.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko held talks in Beijing on “international” issues on Sunday after the most serious challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s power since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“The Chinese side expressed its support for the efforts of the leadership of the Russian Federation to stabilize the situation in the country in connection with the events of June 24 and confirmed its interest in strengthening the cohesion and greater prosperity of Russia” , the Russian Foreign Ministry said. said
China’s foreign ministry initially said only that Rudenko had exchanged views with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sino-Russian relations as well as “international and regional issues of interest common”.
He later said that China was supporting Russia to maintain its national stability and that the recent escalation of tensions in Russia was Russia’s “internal affairs”.
It was not clear when Rudenko arrived in Beijing, or whether his visit to China, a key Russian ally, was in response to the apparent rebellion led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The mutiny was aborted on Saturday in a deal that spared Prigozhin and his mercenaries from facing criminal charges in exchange for Prigozhin withdrawing his fighters from the base and moving to Belarus.
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 25, 2023 4:05 p.m
