LUXEMBOURG — Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group mutiny, which briefly put Russia on the brink of civil war on Saturday, exposed the weaknesses of President Vladimir Putin’s system, the EU’s chief diplomat said Monday.
“What has happened during this weekend shows that the war against Ukraine is cracking Russian power and affecting its political system,” Josep Borrell said at a meeting of the bloc’s foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg.
“The monster that Putin created with Wagner is biting him now, the monster is acting against its creator,” Borrell added.
Troops from Prigozhin’s Wagner paramilitary group on Saturday rose up against the Russian military establishment, seizing Rostov-on-Don, a major city near the Ukrainian border that is also home to Russia’s Ukraine invasion headquarters.
The insurrection ended Saturday evening after a deal was reached between the Kremlin, Minsk and Wagner under which Prigozhin would leave for Belarus in exchange for being spared prosecution.
By then, Wagner troops had made it as close as 200 kilometers from Moscow.
In line with the cautious European reactions over the weekend, Borrell stressed Monday it was “not a good thing to see that a nuclear power like Russia can go into a phase of political instability.”
Several foreign ministers arriving at the meeting stressed the uprising was an domestic issue for Russia — but underlined the need for the EU to unite more than ever before behind Ukraine.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna noted the issue was an “internal matter” but added: “The West will remain united — it is very important now that we focus now on supporting Ukraine.”
Finland’s new Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, who took up the job last week, also stressed that this is “an internal Russian event.”
“It’s too early to tell where this will lead … but it is pretty obvious that the events of the weekend will have a continued effect on how Putin is seen internally, but also how Russia is seen from the outside,” Valtonen said.
Nicolas Camut reported from Brussels.
