Global Courant
Former US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said the ceasefire brokered between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Wagner group is “evidence” of Putin’s “weakness”.
Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin this weekend agreed to a deal to go into exile in Belarus after staging an apparent uprising that saw him lead an armed convoy to Moscow. The Russian mercenary organization had fought for the Kremlin in the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine, but it marched on Moscow this weekend to demand the removal of Russian commanders, who Prigozhin says have mishandled the war.
CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan quizzed Sullivan on “Face the Nation” Sunday about how Belarus appears to be a power broker in the deal, as the country is considered “a client state of Russia.”
“Like why would Yevgeny Prigozhin move to Belarus? Why do they suddenly seem to be power brokers?” Brennan asked.
WHAT DOES PUTIN’S STAND-OFF WITH WAGNER MERCENARY GROUP MEAN FOR RUSSIA?
US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan speaks to reporters after meeting Paul Whelan, a US citizen arrested and charged with espionage, outside a Moscow detention center on January 30, 2020. (Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina)
“(Belarusian President Aleksandr) Lukashenko is now in power as president thanks to Vladimir Putin,” Sullivan said. “Vladimir Putin came to his rescue in August 2020. It was Lukashenko who depended on Putin. But think about this. This is, as you know, Belarus is part of a union state with Russia, they merged. “
WAGNER CHIEF GIVES TROOPES TO TRANSFER FROM MOSCOW ‘TO PREVENT BLOOD PILLING’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, center, is shown on May 15, 2023. (Presidential Press Service of Belarus via AP)
“How dependent Putin is on Lukashenko now… it’s a testament to the weakness that this reveals what’s happened over the last three or four days, the weakness of Vladimir Putin. It’s not just an appearance of weakness, it’s actual weakness” Sullivan said.
“A person he has said is a traitor who has stabbed him and his nation in the back…with whom he has made a deal?” continued Sullivan. “A deal he had to make to avoid bloodshed and chaos. What strong leader does that?’
BIDEN ADMIN, FOREIGN OFFICIALS RESPOND AS WAGNER GROUP MAKES ‘MARCH FOR JUSTICE’ TO MOSCOW
Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the private military contractor of the Wagner Group, records a video address in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. Prigozhin called for an armed uprising to oust the Russian defense minister. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP)
Prigozhin founded the mercenary group in 2014 and has been considered a close confidant of Putin in recent years. Sullivan called the Wagner Group a “corrupt organization” during his CBS News appearance, citing Prigozhin’s time in prison for theft, fraud and related charges.
Vladimir Putin (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“Prigozhin himself spent most of the 1980s in prison because he is a career criminal,” Sullivan said.
“Wagner is operating in states in Africa and elsewhere, not because there are patriots who made policies on behalf of the Russian government, they are there to access … gold mines, oil wells, and so on,” he added.
“This is a money-making organization, a corrupt organization that the United States is properly treating as a transnational criminal organization.”
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All told, the Wagner Rebellion lasted less than 36 hours and Prigozhin is reportedly on his way to Belarus to live in exile.
