Putin ‘absolutely’ diminished by Wagner Group mutiny: Biden

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin had “absolutely” been weakened inside his country by last weekend’s short-lived mutiny led by mercenary Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

But Biden, speaking to reporters at the White House, said it was “hard to tell” the extent to which Putin had been diminished.

“He’s clearly losing the war in Iraq,” Biden said, meaning to refer to Putin’s 16-month war against Ukraine. “He’s losing the war at home. And he has become a bit of a pariah around the world. And it’s not just NATO. It’s not just the European Union. It’s Japan. It’s … 40 nations.”

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, echoed Biden’s comments when speaking with VOA’s Russian service on Wednesday: “On balance, Putin is much weaker today than he was just four or five days ago. Elites in Russia, soldiers in Russia are all watching this and wondering, ‘What’s happened to our leader?’

“And I think that’s good. Because a weakened Russia might do less in terms of damage, principally in Ukraine,” McFaul said.

Prigozhin intended to try to capture Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff, during a visit to a southern region that borders Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, found out about the plan two days before it was to be executed, according to Western officials, forcing Prigozhin to move ahead with his rebellion more quickly than he had planned.

Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday at the invitation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally who claimed that he had to talk the Russian leader out of killing Prigozhin in retribution for the Wagner Group’s advance on Moscow last Saturday.

Prigozhin called off the rebellion against Putin and his defense leaders well short of a confrontation with Russian troops on the outskirts of the capital.

Lukashenko on Saturday negotiated with Putin over Prigozhin’s departure for Belarus, but it still is not clear where Prigozhin is in Belarus, how many fighters accompanied him or how long he plans to stay there.

(VOA)