NATO head Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said the weekend mutiny by mercenary troops in Russia showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a "mistake".
"We are monitoring the situation in Russia. The events over the weekend are an internal Russian matter, and yet another demonstration of the big strategic mistake that President Putin made with his illegal annexation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine," Mr. Stoltenberg told reporters.
He spoke while on a visit to Lithuania — which will host next month's NATO summit — a couple of days after the Wagner mercenary group's aborted revolt against the Kremlin.
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German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who was also in Lithuania on Monday, said the mutiny showed that Russia is an "unstable and unpredictable state".
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a meeting of the bloc’s Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg that Wagner’s aborted mutiny shows Moscow’s war in Ukraine is splintering Russian power, while warning of the risk of instability in the nuclear-armed behemoth.
“What has happened during this weekend shows that the war against Ukraine is cracking Russian power and affecting its political system,” Mr. Borrell said.
“We are certainly following closely what’s happening but it’s now the moment to continue supporting Ukraine more than ever, that’s what we will do,” he said.
Mr. Borrell warned that “certainly it’s not a good thing to see that a nuclear power like Russia can go into a phase of instability. It’s also something that has to be taken into account.
“The most important conclusion is that the war against Ukraine launched by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the monster that Putin created with Wagner, the monster is biting him.
“The monster is acting against its creator, the political system is showing the fragilities and the military power is cracking,” Mr. Borrell said.
EU foreign ministers were scrambling to digest the fall-out from the uprising at their regular meeting in Luxembourg.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the events were “a domestic power struggle in Russia and we are not getting involved”.
After Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his troops' advance on Saturday, Moscow said he would leave Russia for Belarus and would not face charges.
"We are also monitoring the situation in Belarus," Mr. Stoltenberg said, after Russia sent nuclear ammunition there earlier this month.
"We condemn Russia's announcement about deploying nuclear weapons. This is reckless and irresponsible," Mr. Stoltenberg added.
"We don't see any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons but NATO remains vigilant."
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also appeared at the press conference in Vilnius alongside Mr. Stoltenberg.
"The events of the past weekend in Russia demonstrated the instability of the Kremlin regime. Similar or even bigger challenges can be expected in the future," he told reporters.
He said the Wagner mutiny could affect the security of the region.
"The establishment of the Wagner group in Belarus may become an additional factor," he added.
