While they struggled to make sense of Saturday’s chaotic and fast-moving events inside Russia, the Biden administration and its Western allies were keenly aware there was little they could do about it beyond watching from afar.
. Secretary of State Antony Blinken convened Group of Seven diplomats. A message was conveyed to the Russian government, reminding them of their obligations to protect the safety of the U.S. Embassy and diplomats in Moscow. Top Pentagon officials made their own calls, canceled trips abroad and sought to reassure
was trying to exploit the situation and play into long-standing Kremlin narratives about U.S.-led attempts to weaken Russian security. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin is "very afraid" and probably in hiding after Wagner's uprising, during his nightly address on June 24. “The Russian military has committed the vast bulk of its forces to the fight in Ukraine,” said Eric Edelman, a former senior defense official in the George H.W. Bush administration. “And we know that the Wagner fighters are some of the most professional and have shown themselves to be the most capable fighters on the battlefield.”
A weakened Putin could face challenges from the Russian elite, or inspire leaders in Russian regions such as Chechnya and Tatarstan, many of which have long-standing grievances with the central government, to push for additional autonomy or separation from Russia.
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