Asked if Putin was “absolutely weakened by what happened in Russia,” Biden said, “Absolutely.”
When asked how much Putin was weakened, the American president replied: “It’s hard to say, but he is clearly losing the war. He is losing the war at home. And he has become something of a pariah around the world. And it’s not only NATO, it’s not only The European Union is Japan.”
The President was also asked if Putin is weaker today than last week. He replied, “I know it is.”
Context:
In the Russian Federation on June 23–24, a rebellion was held by the owner of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin. He called what was happening a “march of justice”, and Putin said that this was an attempt at a military mutiny. On the morning of June 24, the founder of Wagner announced the capture of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and his intention to go to Moscow, but on the evening of the same day, Prigozhin announced that he had changed his mind and was turning PMC columns “in the opposite direction.”
The statement of the press service of Prigozhin was published 20 minutes after the settlement of the “crisis” was announced by the press service of Alexander Lukashenko, who considers himself the president of Belarus.
On June 24, Putin’s speaker Dmitry Peskov said that following the results of the negotiations, Prigozhin “would leave for Belarus”, and the case on the fact of the rebellion opened against him in the Russian Federation would be closed. On June 26, Russian media found out that the case against the creator of PMC “Wagner” was not closed.
On June 26, Prigozhin’s press service published an audio message in which he stated that he did not have a goal to overthrow the government in the Russian Federation. On the same day, Putin issued an urgent address in which he called the participants in the rebellion “traitors” who made a mistake. He called on the Wagnerites to conclude a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry or to leave the armed formation. Whoever wants can go to Belarus, he said.
On June 27, the FSB announced the closure of the case of the rebellion, and the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the heavy equipment of PMCs would be handed over to the Russian army.
Lukashenka on the same day said that Prigozhin was already on the territory of Belarus.
2023-06-28 17:57:00
#Putin #absolutely #weakened #happened #losing #war #WAR #UKRAINE #News
