Global Courant
Joe Biden spoke at a campaign event in Washington on Friday night – GETTY IMAGES
Joe Biden has been notified the chaotic situation in Russia with US officials describing it as “serious”.
The president was kept informed, just as Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin did accused by Moscow of launching an armed uprising.
A spokesman for the White House National Security Council said: “We are monitoring the situation and will consult with allies and partners on these developments.”
A US official told CNN that this crisis was “real” but that the Pentagon and White House were waiting to see how it developed.
Steve Hall, the CIA’s former chief of Russian operations, said it was “of a different class” than Prigozhin’s previous complaints against the Russian military hierarchy.
A video posted on social media appeared to show an armored vehicle driving through the streets of Moscow on Friday evening – Ostorozhno Novosti
He said: “This may seem like a well-known tactic of Putin pitting people in his own government against each other, but this is of a different class.
“Most worrying to the Kremlin is this promise: ‘We’re all going to march.’ These 25,000 boys – to Moscow. That sounds very much like a coup, like a coup.
“That is certainly why the FSB is involved, and there is probably a direct link with Putin there.
“He would have been the one who said to the FSB: you have to go in and do something. There must be a lot of worry in the Kremlin tonight.”
A ‘massive blow’ to Russia’s military effort
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Pentagon and White House officials would begin “thinking through every worst-case scenario.”
He told CNN: “Putin out of the picture would generally be great for the world. But you think of the instability for Russia that would inevitably result from that, even if this whole supposed coup failed.
“There will be instability for Russia, which has nuclear weapons. There is concern about proliferation if the Russian republic falls into even more pieces.”
He added: “This is a huge blow to the Russian republic, a huge blow to their military efforts (in Ukraine).”
Kiev also followed developments closely.
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The armed forces posted on Twitter: “We’re watching.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, one of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top advisers, said “tumultuous times are coming” for Russia.
