Wagner US closely watching situation with Wagner PMC in Russia: Antony Blinken
Washington: The United States is closely monitoring events surrounding the Wagner Group private military company (PMC) in Russia, although Washington does not have a full picture of the situation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.
"We don't have full information obviously and it is too soon to tell exactly where this is going to go. And I suspect that this is a moving picture," Blinken told CNN, adding that the US is "very focused" on the situation.
Washington has seen no change in Russia's willingness to use nuclear weapons and has not changed its "own posture," the US secretary of state said.
Asked whether the attempted mutiny by the Wagner PMC posed a threat to Russia's current leadership, Blinken said the situation was Russia's internal affair.
"I don't wanna speculate about that. This is, first of all, an internal matter for Russia," the top US diplomat stated.
On Friday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case for inciting armed mutiny over statements made on behalf of the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The FSB said that there was a threat of escalation on Russian territory. The Russian Defense Ministry said that social media reports of alleged Russian military strikes on PMC Wagner camps were not true.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a televised address to the nation on Saturday in which he described the actions of the Wagner Group PMC as an armed mutiny and treason, and promised harsh measures against the insurgents.
Later in the day, the Belarusian presidential office said that Prigozhin had accepted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of Wagner troops in Russia and to take further steps to de-escalate the situation. Prigozhin later confirmed the information, saying that the Wagner troops were returning to their field camps.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Saturday evening that the criminal case against Prigozhin had been dropped and that he would leave for Belarus under guarantees given by Putin.
The spokesman added that the members of the Wagner PMC who were involved in Saturday's events would not be prosecuted, given their distinguished service during Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
(With UNI inputs)
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