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The aftermath of the Wagner rebellion in Russia is an \u201cinternal matter\u201d which will not affect the UK\u2019s ongoing support for Ukraine, a Cabinet minister has said.<\/p>\n
Chief secretary to the Treasury John Glen made the comments as the fallout from the mercenary group\u2019s march on Moscow continues.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s forces, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, were just 120 miles from Moscow before the rebellion was called off to avoid shedding Russian blood.<\/p>\n
He has gone into exile in Belarus after a deal with Vladimir Putin\u2019s government was brokered at the last minute.<\/p>\n
The agreement will see charges against him of mounting an armed rebellion dropped.<\/p>\n
The Russian government also said it would not prosecute Wagner fighters who took part, while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the Defence Ministry.<\/p>\n
Yuriy Sak, who advises the Ukrainian defence minister, told the BBC the rebellion is \u201cthe most ridiculous attempt at mutiny\u201d ever.<\/p>\n
Mr Glen told Sky News\u2019s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that the UK will not be intervening in Russia\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt is obviously a very unstable situation in Russia, but it is fundamentally an internal matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019ve obviously urged, alongside our allies \u2026 that obviously civilian interests are considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t a matter that we will be intervening in, but obviously we observe and monitor the situation on an ongoing basis very carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing has changed with respect to the British Government\u2019s position on supporting Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
However Alexander Litvinenko\u2019s widow Marina suggested this attitude suggests Western leaders remain resistant to the idea of Vladimir Putin stepping down.<\/p>\n
She told the BBC\u2019s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: \u201cThey accept Ukrainian people in a different country they have support, but they still want to keep Putin, and at least to have some kind of controlling of Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201c(After what happened on Saturday) we can see, Putin doesn\u2019t control nothing. If you want to save Russia from collapsing you need to take Putin out from this place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the government should be \u201cdoing pretty much what they are\u201d when asked about the situation.<\/p>\n
She said the events suggest it is \u201cclear that Ukraine is winning the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shadow minister went on: \u201cWe now need to make sure that all of the Nato Allies stand not just with President Zelensky and Ukraine to send a clear message to President Putin, that we will be there and with the Ukrainian people until that war is won.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former chief of the UK general staff Lord Dannatt warned on the programme that a renewed attack on Kyiv could take place if Mr Prigozhin\u2019s troops follow him to Belarus, whose government has supported Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile former chief of the defence staff Lord Richards warned the UK risks \u201cwoefully underestimating\u201d Russia and its armed forces.<\/p>\n
Lord Dannatt said: \u201cApparently he\u2019s left the stage to go to Belarus but is that the end of Prigozhin and the Wagner Group? The fact that he\u2019s gone to Belarus is I think a matter of some concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we don\u2019t know, what we will discover in the next hours and days is\u2026 how many of his fighters have actually gone with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he has gone to Belarus and has kept an effective fighting force around him, he then presents a threat again to the Ukrainian flank closest to Kyiv which is where all this began on February 24 last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough it would appear that this matter is closed I think it is far from closed and the aftershocks will reverberate for quite some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Ukraine) need to watch that flank very carefully and make sure they have got some manoeuvre units such that they could repel a renewed attack from the direction of Belarus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lord Richards told Times Radio: \u201cIt seems to me that we have been at risk of woefully underestimating Russia and her armed forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t appear as if Ukraine has been able to exploit it to achieve what it wants to do and needs to do, which is \u2026 a big penetration of the Russian lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I suspect that whilst it might yet still happen, that we are in, despite the weakened state, arguably of (Vladimir) Putin, we\u2019re in for a long haul here.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that actually is the worst of all worlds for the West.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele told the programme: \u201cWhat\u2019s changed I think is that Vladimir Putin has lost authority and legitimacy within Russia and has been challenged in a way, yes he\u2019s managed to worm his way out of it for the present.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see events unfold in Russia yesterday and the speed with which the situation seemed to spiral out of control must be very concerning for Putin and the people around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edward Lucas, a senior adviser at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, told BBC Radio 4\u2019s The World This Weekend that the UK must prepare for a \u201cdeeply dangerous and unpredictable\u201d post-Putin Russia.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThere will be all sorts of dilemmas and difficulties we face and we need to start thinking right now about how we deal with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s everything from do we worry about Russia falling into the arms of China? Is there going to be disintegration? Will it go full-on fascist? Will we have a long period of confusion and chaos? Will they use their nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip to try and get things?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd these are all the questions that we ought to be dealing with and I\u2019m just not seeing it in most western capitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe face perhaps a decade or more of dealing with a deeply dangerous and unpredictable Russia without even the sort of superficial certainty we have of having Putin in power.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email The aftermath of the Wagner rebellion in Russia is an \u201cinternal matter\u201d which will not affect the UK\u2019s ongoing support for Ukraine, a Cabinet minister has said. Chief secretary to the Treasury John Glen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n