Blinken says attempted coup by Wagner warlord shows ‘real cracks’ in Putin’s grip on power in Russia

The attempted coup of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin shows ‘real cracks’ in Vladimir Putin’s group on power in Russia, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday (June 26).

America’s top diplomat told CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation’ talk show that the Russian tyrant’s standing had been severely undermined by the ouster bid this past weekend.

Blinken called the short-lived revolt ‘a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions, it shows real cracks.’

He later told ABC’s ‘This Week’ program that it could also hamper his military assault on Ukrainian towns and cities. 

‘To the extent that the Russians are distracted and divided it may make their prosecution of aggression against Ukraine more difficult,’ he said.

Prigozhin, the boss of the feared Wagner group of mercenaries, was seen being driven out of Rostov-on-Don after calling off his short-lived uprising on Saturday evening

Prigozhin, who became known as ‘Putin’s chef’ after he landed lucrative catering contracts with the Kremlin, called off his plans to march on Moscow on Saturday evening.

The move came after he reportedly holding talks with Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko amid fears of a possible civil war.

Putin had vowed to ‘ brutally’ punish those behind the rebellion, accusing them of treason.

Prigozhin’s Wagner Group is a shady mercenary outfit accused of war crimes in Ukraine, Africa and the Middle East.

The one-time Putin ally, who has been one of the biggest critics of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s handling of the war, will now move to neighboring Belarus.

In return, Russian officials have agreed to drop all the charges against the 62-year-old oligarch and his troops. will be dropped, 

It remains unclear whether the self-styled ‘private military company’ will continue to play a major role in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The recruits, many of whom have been drafted in from maximum security jails across Russia, have been deployed to the frontline, including in the battle for the eastern Donbas town of Bakhmut.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s chief propagandist, has said that Wagner fighters could now sign a contract directly with Moscow if they so choose.

The row between Moscow and Prigozhin erupted on Saturday morning when his men claimed they had seized a southern military HQ in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, close to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. 

The Wagner Group has mainly recruited convicts from Russia’s most notorious jails to bolster their numbers on the frontline 

Wagner fighters have been filmed committing sickening atrocities in Ukraine, including beheadings and castrations.

They also claimed to have taken another regional command in Voronezh, another city on the route north towards Moscow. 

Known for their particularly brutal tactics, Wagner fighters have been filmed committing a string of horrific atrocities

Grisly videos, often shared on the Telegram messaging service, have shown their men beheading and castrating Ukrainian soldiers.

Another piece of footage shows the execution of a reported deserter and alleged collaborator with Kyiv being bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer.