US, NATO had no hand in Wagner Group mutiny in Russia: Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden said on Monday (June 26) that the United States or the NATO was not involved in the short-lived insurrection in Russia by the Wagner Group mercenary force. He added that it was “too early” to assess the impact of the mutiny on the war in Ukraine.

Biden said he held a video call with allies over the weekend, and they were all in sync in working to ensure that they gave Russian President Vladimir Putin no excuse to blame this on the West or NATO.

“We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it,” Biden said. “This was part of a struggle within the Russian system.”

Also read: Wagner chief mocks Russian military for ‘failing to protect country’ in audio statement

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told broadcaster RT that US Ambassador Lynne Tracy had contacted Russian representatives on Saturday to stress that the US was not involved in the mutiny and considered it an internal Russian matter.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, too, said on Monday that the events over the weekend are “an internal Russian matter”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the revolt showed that the war is cracking Russia’s political system. “The monster that Putin created with Wagner, the monster is biting him now,” Borrell said. “The monster is acting against his creator.”

“US will continue to support Ukraine”

Biden also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend about the situation and said he intended to speak with him again later Monday or early Tuesday.

“I told him that no matter what happened in Russia, let me say again, no matter what happened in Russia, we in the United States would continue to support Ukraine’s defence and sovereignty and its territorial integrity.”

A feud between the Wagner Group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Russia’s military brass that has festered throughout the war erupted into a mutiny that saw the mercenaries leave Ukraine to seize a military headquarters in a southern Russian city. They rolled for hundreds of kilometres towards Moscow, before turning around after less than 24 hours on Saturday.

Earlier on Monday, Prigozhin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made public comments, with both aiming to play down the crisis. In an 11-minute audio statement, Prigozhin said he acted to prevent the destruction of the Wagner private military company and moved in response to an attack on a Wagner camp that killed some 30 of his fighters.

Also read: Explained: What is Wagner Group and why it is fighting Russia

Biden said much remains in flux in the aftermath of the most significant challenge to Putin’s authority during his long tenure.

“We are going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events, and the implications from Russia and Ukraine,” Biden said. “But it’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going.”

The UK Ministry of Defence said on Monday that Ukraine had gained impetus in its push around Bakhmut, making progress north and south of the town. Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken Rivnopil, a village in an area of southeast Ukraine that has seen heavy fighting.

(With agency inputs)