Blinken: Prigozhin’s rebellion ‘shows real cracks’ in Russia

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said the short-lived rebellion from Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin “shows real cracks” within Russia as it wages its war on Ukraine. 

“Prigozhin himself, in this entire incident, has raised profound questions about the very premises for Russian aggression against Ukraine in the first place, saying that Ukraine or NATO did not pose a threat to Russia, which is part of Putin’s narrative. And it was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions. It shows real cracks,” Blinken said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Prigozhin, who heads the private Russian military contractor organization, called on Friday for an armed uprising to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and raised questions about Moscow’s justification for its ongoing war on its neighbor. 

The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin and Putin promised to put down the “armed mutiny.”

The Wager Group crossed from Ukraine into Russia, but Prigozhin, a day later, ordered his forces to stop their advance on Moscow. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko assisted in negotiating a settlement between Prigozhin and Russian leadership.

“Sixteen months ago, Russian forces were on the doorstep of Kyiv, in Ukraine, thinking they’d take the city in a matter of days, thinking they would erase Ukraine from the map as an independent country. Now, over this weekend, they’ve had to defend Moscow, Russia’s capital, against mercenaries of Putin’s own making,” Blinken said on CBS. 

The secretary of State said “we’re in the midst of a moving picture” and “we haven’t seen the last act,” stressing that he wouldn’t speculate about what happens in the coming weeks and months, but said “we do know that Putin has a lot more to answer for.”

Blinken also called Prigozhin a “rising storm” inside Russia.

“Direct challenges to the leadership, to the military leadership, powerful criticism of Russia’s conduct, of its aggression against Ukraine. And now questioning the very premises of the war, Prigozhin himself, saying that Ukraine and NATO did not pose a threat to Russia … These more cracks in the Russian facade, and those cracks are already profound.”