Washington (EFE).- The president of the United States, Joe Biden, remarked this Monday that neither the West nor NATO were involved in the attempted uprising of the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, against the Russian military and political leadership.
In his first public statements on the matter, Biden explained in a speech at the White House that he was following the events “hour by hour” with his national security team and that he spoke with “key” allies via Zoom to be sure that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not blame them for what happened.
“It is crucial that we are coordinated in our response and in what we do to anticipate. We agreed to make sure that we do not give Putin any pretext to blame either the West or NATO,” the US president said.
Over the weekend, Biden spoke by phone with officials from France, Germany and the United Kingdom to discuss the situation in Russia.
“We made it clear that we were not involved,” the president continued, “we have nothing to do with this, this was part of a fight within the Russian system.”
Biden, in constant communication with Zelensky
Likewise, Biden spoke with the president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, on Sunday, and announced that he may also speak with him this Monday to “guarantee” that both have the same position on this issue.
“I told him that no matter what happens in Russia, we, the US, will continue to support Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Biden said.
He added that he will continue in contact with the allies to assess the implications of what happened and stressed that “it is too early” to reach a conclusion. “It remains to be seen what is the outcome of all this,” he considered.
Meanwhile, he affirmed that the US and its partners will be “closely aligned” in their interpretation and response to this situation, because “it is important to be fully coordinated,” he opined.
The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, highlighted this Monday in his first statements after the failed mutiny that he only sought to save the private military company from disappearance and not change power in Russia.