WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden maintained yesterday that the US “had nothing to do with” last weekend’s aborted rebellion by a Russian private military company that saw paramilitary forces rapidly move towards Moscow.
Biden said during a White House event that the Wagner Group’s assault “was part of a struggle within the Russian system” between the paramilitary and the Russian government, adding that he gathered with allies over the weekend to ensure “we gave (Russian President) Vladimir Putin no excuse to blame this on the West, or to blame this on Nato”, according to Anadolu Agency.
“We’re gonna keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine. But it’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going,” Biden said during an East Room event focused on high-speed internet infrastructure.
“The 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. It’s important we stay completely coordinated,” he added.
Separately, Anadolu Agency reported the White House said it is “too soon to know” what impact of the revolt.
“The president is focused on supporting Ukraine. We are not taking sides in this internal matter,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a daily press briefing.
But he added: “The history of this conflict has shown that the Russian military is not as vaunted as perhaps they wanted to characterise themselves.”
Turning the focus back to the 16-month-old Ukraine war, he said: “And again, not sound like a broken record, but what we’re trying to do is make sure that the Ukrainians have everything they need to be successful in that fight.”
Asked by a reporter about Biden’s remarks in March 2022 – about a month after Russia launched the war – saying, “For God’s sake, this man (Putin) cannot remain in power,” Kirby responded: “Regime change is not our policy. We’ve been very, very clear about that.”
“What we’re focused on is making sure Ukraine can succeed on the battlefield,” he added.
Last year, Biden said he made the unscripted remarks out of “outrage,” but that he was not advocating “regime change.”
Kirby also declined to comment on whether the US government considers the events that took place with the Wagner Group a “mutiny, a coup, an attempted coup, or an armed rebellion”, according to Anadolu Agency.
“We’re not slapping a bumper sticker on it,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of nuclear escalation, Kirby pointed out that Russia is a nuclear power, adding that the US has been “monitoring” Russia’s strategic posture and capabilities.
“Outside of the blustery rhetoric, we’ve seen no indication that there’s any intent to use nuclear weapons inside Ukraine,” Kirby said, adding: “We’ve seen nothing that would that would compel us to change our own strategic deterrent posture.”
On Saturday, the paramilitary Wagner Group accused the Russian Defence Ministry of attacking its fighters.
The announcement was followed by a group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin declaring “A March of Justice” and crossing the Ukrainian border into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, where his forces captured a critical military installation.
Prigozhin said his fighters would proceed to Moscow, prompting the Kremlin to tighten security across various regions of the country.
He later said his fighters decided to turn back to avoid bloodshed when they were 200km (124 miles) from Moscow, while Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he held talks with the Wagner head with Putin’s consent, and Prigozhin accepted a de-escalation deal. – Bernama, June 27, 2023
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