Vladimir Putin is a weakened leader.

The Russian dictator has been in power for more than 20 years, but he’s now facing his biggest test, for all the world to see.

 
An attempted armed mutiny in Russia shows “real cracks” in President Vladimir Putin’s authority.

America’s top diplomat Antony Blinken has old US media that the rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner fighters was a “direct challenge” to Mr Putin, forcing him into an amnesty agreement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and members of the U.S. Congress says Saturday’s turmoil in Russia has weakened Putin in ways that could aid

Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces within its territory while benefiting Russia’s neighbors, including Poland and the Baltic states.

Blinken says tensions that sparked the action had been growing for months and added the threat of internal turmoil could affect Moscow’s military capabilities in Ukraine.

But – Blinken describes the turmoil as an “internal matter” for Putin. The current whereabouts of Prigozhin, a former Putin loyalist, are unknown.

We know he’s not in Moscow. He was last seen in public leaving Rostov-on-Don – one of the two southern cities where his fighters had taken control of military facilities.

Antony Blinken says it’s “too early” to predict what impact the mutiny could have on the Kremlin or on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.

Blinken added that Prigozhin’s direct challenge of Putin’s authority is “extraordinary,” as Prigozhin has managed to raise questions about the motivations for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the first place.
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