BRUSSELS — The aborted mutiny by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group on the weekend demonstrated the size of the Kremlin’s strategic mistake in waging battle on Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg mentioned on Monday.
Russia sought to revive calm on Monday after Wagner fighters halted a fast advance on Moscow, withdrew from the seized southern Russian metropolis of Rostov and headed again to their bases late on Saturday below a deal that assured their security.
Their commander, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was to maneuver to Belarus below the deal mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin mentioned.
“The events over the weekend are an internal Russian matter, and yet another demonstration of the big strategic mistake that President [Vladimir] Putin made with his illegal annexation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg informed reporters on a go to to Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.
Confusion over the weekend’s extraordinary occasions has left Western governments groping for solutions to what may occur subsequent within the nation with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal—and to its battle on Ukraine.
Stoltenberg mentioned NATO was monitoring the state of affairs in Belarus and, once more, condemned Moscow’s announcement to deploy nuclear weapons there.
“We don’t see any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons but NATO remains vigilant,” he mentioned, including NATO’s deterrence was robust sufficient to maintain its individuals protected in a “more dangerous world.”
At the identical time, Stoltenberg assured Kyiv of NATO’s continued help.
“If Russia thinks it can intimidate us from supporting Ukraine, it will fail,” he mentioned. “We stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Stoltenberg was in Lithuania to attend an train that can check the swift reinforcing of the German-led NATO battlegroup within the nation to the dimensions of a brigade, a army unit comprising as much as 5,000 troops, a situation to be enacted in case of heightened tensions or a battle with Russia.
He described the drills as a transparent message that NATO was able to defend each inch of allied territory. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
