Wagner Group rebellion shows Russia's internal fragility: French foreign minister

By Umit Donmez

PARIS (AA) - The rebellion by the Wagner Group shows Russia's internal fragility, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Tuesday.

"This has brought into light the internal tensions, cracks, divisions and even flaws," she said at a news conference in Paris alongside her Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts.

Colonna, however, did not jump to conclusions. "Let us spare our analyzes. There are many gray areas," she said.

She reiterated France’s support for Ukraine and hailed the 11th sanction package against Russia.

Edgars Rinkevics from Latvia said it is still too soon to analyze the situation and the effect of Wagner's move in Russia.

It is more important for Baltic countries to strengthen their defense capacities instead of observing Russia's internal issues, said Margus Tsahkna from Estonia.

The developments that occurred last weekend show how rapid Russian forces are, and the threat that Moscow poses to its neighbors, according to the Lithuanian minister Gabrielus Landsbergis.

Wagner accused the Russian Defense Ministry on June 24 of attacking its fighters, after which the head of the group, Yevgeny Prigozhin declared, "A March of Justice" and crossed the Ukrainian border into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, intending to march toward Moscow.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wagner's actions were "an armed rebellion" and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while President Vladimir Putin called the uprising an act of "treason."

Prigozhin and his fighters later decided to turn back "to avoid bloodshed" when they were 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Moscow.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he contributed to the settlement by holding talks with Wagner’s head, which led to Prigozhin's decision to accept a de-escalation deal.​​​​​​​

Prigozhin claimed Monday that he did not plan to overthrow the Russian government but wanted to "voice protest" and prevent his group from being disbanded.

He said the Russian Defense Ministry had planned to sign contracts by July 1 with all Wagner fighters, making the group part of the regular army, which "would destroy its combat capability."

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara