usa: According to sources speaking to Axios, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urgently issued a cable on Friday evening instructing American officials around the world not to discuss the unsuccessful armed uprising by the Wagner private military company in Russia.
According to the outlet on Tuesday, US diplomats could only respond that Washington was keeping an eye on events in response to inquiries from other governments.
Unnamed officials claim that Blinken's message made clear that the situation had been handled directly by the secretary of state and his closest staff.
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One of the sources claimed that those who received the directive had the impression that Washington had been trying to ensure that American diplomats would not say anything that would give the impression that the US was somehow involved in the crisis.
According to Axios, "the peculiar cable... demonstrated the degree of concern in the Biden administration about the developments in Russia."
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In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Blinken claimed that Wagner's mutiny was "basically a Russian internal matter." He asserted that the private military company's actions constituted "a direct challenge to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's authority," and that "we've seen real cracks emerge."
Late on Friday, the Wagner Group, which was supporting Russia in the conflict in Ukraine and played a key role in the seizure of the important city of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) in May, started a rebellion. Evgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the PMC, claims that he instigated the uprising because the Defence Ministry "wanted to disband Wagner." The insurgent forces took control of Rostov-on-Don's Southern District headquarters of the Russian military and dispatched an armed convoy in the direction of Moscow.
On Saturday night, Prigozhin declared that his men would return to their field camps after speaking with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, putting an end to the uprising. According to Minsk, Putin was closely involved in the negotiations.
According to the terms of the agreement, Prigozhin would depart Russia and "go to Belarus". It also stated that Wagner fighters who took part in the mutiny will not be prosecuted and that the criminal case against him will be dropped.
In his televised speech on Monday, President Putin claimed that the majority of the Wagner troops were patriots who had been purposefully misled by the insurgents. The soldiers now have the option of returning home, moving to Belarus, or signing a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry and other security organisations, he said.
