US pols gleeful as Wagner Group revolt rocks Russia
US pols who are staunchly opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion gleefully seized Sunday on the attempted coup on the Kremlin.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) underscored the military might of Russia’s renegade mercenary Wagner Group, which launched the mutiny before then quickly calling it off, and said its revolt could have big implications for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Wagner members, under the direction of commander Yevgeny Prigozhin, have been a large factor in Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
“I don’t think that’s the last of the story,” McCaul told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo of the Russian upheaval and Ukraine.
“[Prigozhin] is in control of 50,000 of some of the fiercest thugs on the ground. And I think this will have a real impact on the fighting as Ukraine conducts its counteroffensive.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) tweeted along with a clip from a morning interview CNN’s “State of the Union,” “The recent coup attempt in Russia has shown a crack in the strength of Putin at home – that’s a big deal.
“Zelenskyy and Ukraine have moral authority here, and we are with them.”
Led by Prigozhin, the Wagner Group on Friday commandeered the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which has a population of more than 1 million people and hosted matches for the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because his past catering business served the Russian leader, accused his government of lying about its justification for invading Ukraine.
“The ministry of defence is trying to deceive the public and the president and spin the story that there was insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they were going to attack us together with the whole NATO block,” Prigozhin said in a 30-minute Telegram rant, according to a translation from the Guardian.
Everything to know about the Wagner Group’s attack on Russia
Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenary fighting force will not face charges and will instead be exiled despite leading an armed insurrection against Moscow Saturday, the Kremlin said.
Prigozhin, owner and founder of the mercenary organization, called for an armed rebellion and threatened to rush Moscow in order to oust the minister who he accused of ordering the bombing of his war camps in Ukraine.
However, Prigozhin eventually agreed to halt the Wagner Group’s advance on Moscow just 120 miles from the capital city after a day-long negotiation the mercenary leader had with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who was given permission to broker a deal with Progozhin by Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s presidential plane left Moscow early Saturday, sparking rumors that he had fled the Russian capital as the Wagner Group’s mercenary forces advanced on the city.
The president’s aircraft was spotted on flight radar flying northwest from Moscow to the St. Petersburg area — but then disappeared from the system near the city of Tver, the BBC reported, where Putin owns a large rural retreat.
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The Wagner chief also accused the Russian Defense Ministry of plotting a missile strike that killed some of his men.
He appeared to imply that his forces would oust the ministry of defense in retaliation during his March to Moscow.
But he ultimately backed down after Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, announced an agreement between the two sides, allegedly banishing Prigozhin to Belarus in exchange for Putin not pursuing charges against him or his men.
House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) on Sunday called the standoff between the Kremlin and the Wagner Group “inevitable.
“The intelligence committee was very much aware that the conflict between Prigozhin and Putin was inevitable,” Turner told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” referencing videos Prigozhin previously released critical of the war.
Turner said Putin will now “face international and domestic challenges” as questions swirl about his grasp on power. The pol surmised that Prigozhin’s uprising entailed significant planning.
“Taking the [convoy] to Moscow, that really shows the basic issue of whether or not Putin controls his military,” Turner added. “Where was the Russian air force to prevent this?”
Prigozhin’s forces made it within roughly 124 miles of Moscow before the agreement for him to halt.
The Wagner Group previously famously helped take over the key Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
McCaul surmised that Russia’s “Ministry of Defense has been basically at war with Wagner” for some time, noting that the Kremlin tried to take more control over the mercenary group.
The Texas congressman added that he believes China is watching the situation carefully.
“Even Chairman Xi now, I think, is looking at Putin, his ally, thinking, ‘My God, is this my ally who has been weakened?’ as [Xi] assesses a potential invasion into Taiwan,” McCaul said, referring to China’s Communist Party chairman, Xi Jinping.
Retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) contended that the Russian rebellion illustrates Putin’s fading credibility.
“Putin has lost his credibility with his own people. His account of why he went into Ukraine is now being challenged, I think, with public opinion and Russia itself,” Cardin told “Fox News Sunday.”
Other politicians, including current presidential candidate Donald Trump, fretted over the upheaval, warning that an ouster of Putin could lead to an even worse situation for the US involving Russia.
“A big mess in Russia, but be careful what you wish for. Next in may be far worse!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
Former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation, “The Biden administration is rightfully concerned.
“Chaos and uncertainty in Russia, with their nuclear arsenal, is very dangerous not just for the United States but also for the rest of the world.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken carefully reflected on the situation while making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows.
While refusing to speculate about the Russian attempted coup’s effect on the bloody war in Ukraine or reveal whether the intelligence community predicted the mutiny, Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “This is just the latest chapter in a book of failure that Putin has written for himself and for Russia.
“Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of those things have plummeted.”
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