Borrell, on the Wagner rebellion: "The monster that Putin created is now biting him"

The high representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, affirmed this Monday that “it is not good” that a nuclear power like Russia can face “political instability”, after the attempted rebellion of the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“Everyone is aware of what is happening in Russia, it is important to understand that this is breaking Russian military power and affecting its political system,” Borrell told the press upon arrival at a Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU. “And it’s certainly not good to say that a nuclear power like Russia can face political instability. It’s also something to take into account,” he added.

For Borrell, the “most important conclusion” is that “the monster that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin created,” referring to the Wagner mercenary group, “is biting him now.” “The monster is acting against its creator,” he stressed, adding that the Russian political system is “showing its weaknesses” and military power “has cracked.” “This is an important consequence of the war in Ukraine,” he asserted, while saying that they will continue to closely monitor the situation and that “now is the time to continue supporting Ukraine more than ever.”

He recalled that at the meeting on Monday the ministers will formally support the 3.5 billion euro expansion of the European Peace Support Fund (FEAP) with which the Member States of the Union are co-financing weapons for Kiev. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the attempted mutiny shows that “there are deep divisions within Russia.”

“Putin took the genie out of the lamp and now this evil genie is after him,” said his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, in relation to Prigozhin. “Russia is one of the great nuclear powers on the planet and what happens there cannot be the same to us,” he said.

The Finnish minister, Elina Valtonen, acknowledged that it is “difficult” to know where what happened will lead, but judged “quite evident” that the events of the weekend “will have a continuing effect on how Putin is seen internally but also how Russia is seen from the outside”. “It is an internal Russian matter and we are watching what happens,” she stressed.

The European foreign ministers have met this Monday in Luxembourg to discuss the consequences of the attempted uprising by Prigozhin and his mercenary fighters against the Russian military leadership.

The ministers will also have the opportunity to assess with their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, the consequences that Prigozhin’s struggle against the Russian elite may have for the future of the war in Ukraine.

They will also address the meeting on the peace plan of the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, which took place last weekend in Copenhagen between national security advisers from G7 countries, also open to Brazil, India or China.