June 26th 2023.
President Joe Biden spoke out on Monday for the first time about the Wagner Group's attempted rebellion against Russia. The US and its allies had "nothing" to do with the march on Moscow, the President said.
During a White House address, Biden revealed that he had convened his key allies in a Zoom call to ensure they were all on the same page. He made it clear that the US and NATO had to make sure they gave Vladimir Putin no excuse to blame the West for the attempted coup.
Biden also said that the US had "nothing to do with it", and that the insurrection was part of a struggle within the Russian system. The Wagner Group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had said he intended to punish defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Valery Gerasimov for launching rockets at his troops. After a day of conflict, Prigozhin agreed to exile in Belarus.
The US president also said that he had instructed his national security team to monitor the situation closely and to prepare for a range of scenarios. Putin had called the Wagner rebellion "treason", and in an unscheduled national address on Monday he offered insurrectionists amnesty - but not to Prigozhin.
Meanwhile, US intelligence had gathered detailed information about Prigozhin's plans leading up to the rebellion, and had shared this with some allies - including British officials - but not with NATO. Biden had remained silent over the weekend on the uprising, but had spoken with European allies by phone on Saturday before traveling to Camp David with his national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
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