Sergei Shoigu has yet to comment on weekend mutiny by Wagner leader who accused him of causing deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers in Ukraine
- See all our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Chinese officials have described the abandoned Wagner rebellion as Moscow’s “internal affairs”, while one state media mouthpiece dismissed the divisions in Russia as an “illusion” being exploited by the west.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko held previously unannounced talks in Beijing on Sunday. It was not clear if they had been planned in advance or came as a result of the Wagner mutiny.
Kartapolov’s efforts to absolve Wagner personnel of responsibility for taking part in an armed rebellion and separate them from Prigozhin may indicate the Russian government’s desire to continue to use Wagner personnel in some capacity, and as ISW assessed on June 24, the Russian leadership could redeploy Wagner to Ukraine or instead commit them to international missions
Continue reading…
