While 16 months ago Russian forces were on Kyiv’s “doorstep” threatening to take over all of Ukraine, “now over this weekend, they’ve had to defend Moscow, Russia’s capital, against mercenaries of Putin’s own making”, Blinken also told ABC News show This Week.
“Prigozhin himself, in this entire incident, has raised profound questions about the very premises of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in the first place, saying that Ukraine or NATO did not pose a threat to Russia, which is part of Putin’s narrative.”
Putin in a fiery speech Saturday accused Prigozhin of treason and vowed to punish the perpetrators, but then accepted an amnesty deal in which the Wagner chief would avoid prosecution and leave for neighbouring Belarus.
Blinken said that Moscow being “distracted” over the revolt creates “an additional advantage” for Ukraine in the midst of its counteroffensive against Russian forces.
But “we can’t speculate or know exactly where that’s going to go”, he said of the Wagner crisis.
Source: CNA
