Wagner Rebellion Is a Sign of Russian Weakness: EU Minister

Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivers a video address on June 24, 2023. Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the aborted mutiny of Wagner Group mercenaries against the Russian forces showed proof of “fragilities” in Moscow’s political system and weakness in its military.

“The most important conclusion is that the war against Ukraine launched by Putin and the monster that Putin created with Wagner, the monster is biting him now,” Borell told reports on Monday in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of EU ministers, according to a June 26 tweet by the European External Action Service. “The monster is acting against its creator. The political system is showing its fragilities, and the military power is cracking. So this is an important consequence of the war in Ukraine.”

The Wagner Group is a private military company that acts as Russia’s paramilitary organization. It has played a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Wagner mutiny was triggered following accusations of harm against its forces by the Russian army. The rebellion was eventually abandoned on Sunday. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Borrell announced that the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council was providing Ukraine an additional 3.5 billion euros ($3.82 billion) of military support. He pointed out that “it’s more important than ever” to continue supporting Kyiv as the internal conflict in Russia reveals that Moscow’s war is negatively affecting its power.

However, Borrell warned that “it’s not a good thing to see that a nuclear power like Russia can go into a phase of political instability. ... It’s also something that has to be taken into account.”

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn also shared similar concerns with reporters. “It would be absolutely dangerous for Europe if the biggest country of the world with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons was [sic] to be shattered,” he said, according to Reuters.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said, “It is common for authoritarian states that everything seems to be very stable until one day, nothing is stable anymore. Valtonen is expecting “such a development for Russia as well.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock blamed Putin for destroying Russia with his “brutal war of aggression” against Ukraine. “We are seeing massive cracks in the Russian propaganda.”

Wagner Mutiny

Residents pose for a photograph with a member of the Wagner Group in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24, 2023. Roman Romohkov/AFP via Getty Images

The Wagner conflict began on Friday when Prigozhin accused the Russian military of attacking his camp.

Prigozhin led his troops into Rostov-on-Don, where he claimed to have taken over some Russian military facilities. Though he characterized his retaliation not as a coup, the Kremlin saw it as such.

On Saturday morning, Putin said in a televised address that he would punish those who are “on a path to treason” while calling Wagner’s “betrayal” a “stab in the back of our country and our people.” Russian forces were deployed across the capital.

On Sunday, Prigozhin stood down his troops. Following negotiations with the Kremlin, Prigozhin decided to leave for Belarus while some of his fighters will be absorbed into the Russian military.

In an interview with CNN, Steve Hall, a former CIA chief of Russia operations, said that “everybody is scratching their heads” about what transpired in Russia over the past few days.

“The only sense I can make from a day like today [is] you have two guys who found themselves in untenable situations and had to find their way out.”

Hall believes the Russian president has come across as worse off and weakened. “Putin should have seen it coming literally months ago. We’ll see how it ends up. I don’t think the story is over yet.”

US and China React

In a June 25 interview with ABC, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Wagner rebellion showed that there were “cracks” in Putin’s power in Russia.

“Sixteen months ago, Russian forces were on the doorstep of Kyiv, Ukraine, thinking they were going to take the city in a matter of days. ... Now, they have to be focused on defending Moscow, Russia’s capital, against mercenaries” that were initially backed by Putin, he said. “We see cracks emerging.”

Former President Donald Trump called the situation “a big mess in Russia,” according to a June 24 post on his Truth Social account. “But be careful what you wish for. Next in may be far worse!”

The Chinese foreign ministry called Wagner’s uprising “Russia’s internal affairs” and stated that Beijing supports Moscow in “maintaining its national stability.”

Reuters contributed to this report.