Blinken says 'we haven't seen the last act' on Russia's Wagner revolt
Top U.S. officials are now evaluating what the rebellion means for Vladimir Putin's presidency.
LEARN MOREPosted: 9:42 a.m. EDT Jun 26, 2023
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, remains under investigation for mutiny, Russian state media reported on Monday.
"The criminal case against Prigozhin has not been closed. The investigation is continuing," someone from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office told TASS, a state-operated outlet.
The report comes days after Prigozhin reportedly turned back his army which he said was nearly 200 kilometers from Moscow.
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko separately claimed to have brokered a deal in which Wagner forces would withdraw and Russian forces would not attack their positions, according to a statement from a Belarusian official press agency.
The deal reportedly would have allowed Prigozhin and members of his rebellion to move to Belarus, a close ally of Russia and the Kremlin, without facing prosecution. This report, however, has not been confirmed by Scripps News.
Putin called the uprising "a stab in the back," as it was the biggest threat to his leadership in over two decades in power.
According to Prigozhin, the reason behind the retaliation was because Russian military forces, acting under the orders of Russia's chief of general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, launched attacks on Wagner convoys and field camps located in Ukraine.
Right after Prigozhin’s announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter this whole situation is "complete chaos."
"Today, the world saw that the bosses of Russia do not control anything. Nothing at all. Complete chaos. Complete absence of any predictability," Zelenskyy said. "The longer your troops stay on Ukrainian land, the more devastation they will bring to Russia. The longer this person is in the Kremlin, the more disasters there will be."
According to the White House, President Joe Biden discussed the situation with Zelenskyy on Sunday. The White House said the U.S. would continue its support for Ukraine amid the uncertainty of what's next in the region.
