US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday (June 25) said the turmoil caused by the unprecedented challenge to the authority of President Vladimir Putin by Wagner fighters may not be over yet and could take weeks or months to play out.
Blinken in a series of television interviews said tensions that led to the aborted mutiny by forces led by Yevgeny Prigozhin had been rising for months and that the turmoil could affect Moscow’s capabilities in Ukraine.
“There are lots of unanswered questions, including the question of what happens to Prigozhin’s forces. Do they remain in Ukraine? I mean we saw the extraordinary image of these forces coming out of Ukraine and going into Russia just yesterday,” Blinken said.
He told ABC’s “This Week” program: “To the extent this presents a distraction, a loss of focus for the Russians, that may help the Ukrainians on the battlefield.”
“There’s been a lot of focus making sure the Ukrainians have what they need to be as successful as possible on the ground and we’ll see how that unfolds over the coming weeks and even coming months. But again, to the extent this presents a distraction, a loss of focus for the Russians, that may help the Ukrainians on the battlefield,” he added.
Blinken said neither the United States nor the Russian nuclear posture had changed as a result of the crisis.
Source: Reuters
