Wagner revolt shows divisions in Russian camp: Macron

The revolt by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group against President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine has revealed divisions within the Russian leadership, French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday.

The abandoned march on Moscow “shows the divisions that exist within the Russian camp, and the fragility of both its military and its auxiliary forces,” Macron told the Provence newspaper.

He added that “the situation is still developing” and that he was “following the events hour by hour.”

“All this should make us very vigilant, and fully justifies the support that we are giving to the Ukrainians in their resistance,” he said.

The private army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin was headed back to its base on Sunday, after Putin agreed to let its chief seek refuge in Belarus, though Prigozhin’s exact whereabouts remain unclear.

The mutiny was the culmination of his long-standing feud with the Russian military’s top brass over the conduct of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Several analysts have said the affair exposed weakness in Putin’s grip on power.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a similar point to Macron in comments earlier Sunday, saying the crisis “raises profound questions, it shows real cracks” in the regime.