On Monday, President Joe Biden (left) made his first remarks regarding the Wagner Group’s uprising against Russia.
On Monday, President Joe Biden (left) made his first remarks regarding the Wagner Group’s uprising against Russia. (Images via Rex/Reuters)
In his initial remarks following the march on Moscow, US President Joe Biden claimed that the US and its allies had “nothing” to do with the Wagner uprising against Russia.
On Monday, Biden addressed the weekend coup attempt by the Wagner Group, which saw it capture control of a significant Russian city and briefly advance on Moscow.
‘They agreed with me that we had to make sure we gave (Russian President Vladimir) Putin no excuse – let me emphasize, we gave Putin no excuse – to blame this on the West or to blame this on NATO’.
Biden added: ‘We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. This was part of a struggle within the Russian system.’
The mercenary group revolted on Friday, with its found Yevgeny Prigozhin saying he intended to punish defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Valery Gerasimov for launching rockets at his troops. The uprising was the biggest threat to Putin in more than two decades.
After a day of conflict, Prigozhin agreed to exile in Belarus.
Still, Biden said the ‘ultimate outcome’ of the insurrection remains to be seen.
‘I directed my national security team to monitor closely and report to me hour by hour,’ he said. ‘I instructed them to prepare for a range of scenarios.’
Putin called the Wagner rebellion ‘treason’. In an unscheduled national address on Monday, the Russian president reiterated his offer of amnesty to insurrectionists but not to Prigozhin.
Biden on remained silent over the weekend on the uprising. The US president spoke with European allies by phone on Saturday and then traveled to Camp David along with his national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
US intelligence officials gathered detailed information of Prigozhin’s plans leading up to the rebellion including how he planned to advance, sources told CNN on Monday. That intelligence was reportedly only shared with some allies, including British officials, and not to NATO.