Antony Blinken holds crisis talks with US closest allies
Washington, The Gulf Observer: The top US diplomat has held crisis talks with America’s closest allies, as Russia’s Wagner Group private mercenaries launched an armed rebellion against the country’s leader Vladimir Putin, according to Dailymail.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a call on Saturday morning with his G7 and EU counterparts, after Wagner fighters took control of some military facilities in southern Russia.
‘The United States will stay in close coordination with Allies and partners as the situation continues to develop,’ Blinken wrote on Twitter.
Blinken spoke with all of his G7 counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the State Department said.
The diplomats discussed ‘the ongoing situation in Russia’ according to a State Department release confirming the call.
‘Secretary Blinken reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a release.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin says Putin spoke to leaders of Russia’s close allies on Saturday following the armed rebellion led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin spoke on the phone with the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and ‘informed his counterparts of the situation.’
Putin also spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is a NATO member, but has cultivated military ties with Russia, including through deals to purchase military hardware from Moscow.
A Kremlin statement said the Russian leader informed Erdogan ‘about the situation in the country related to an attempted armed rebellion,’ and the Turkish president ‘expressed full support for the steps of the Russian leadership.’
The Wagner forces are being led by Wagner Group owner Prigozhin, who on Friday called for an armed uprising to oust Putin’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Though the situation on the ground in Russia remained highly fluid and uncertain, there were indications that Wagner forces were advancing swiftly on Moscow.
The governor of Russia’s Lipetsk province said Saturday that the mercenary group has entered the region.
The Lipetsk region is about 225 miles south of Moscow and much closer to the capital than Rostov-on-Don, where Wagner forces appeared on Friday night.
Authorities ‘are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population. The situation is under control,’ governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram. He did not give details about the Wagner presence.
In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infrastructure, Russian state media reported.