State Department says US is working with G7 allies amid crisis in Russia

The top US diplomat has been conducting crisis talks with America’s closest allies, as Russian Wagner Group mercenaries launched an armed uprising against the country’s leader, Vladimir Putin.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his G7 and EU counterparts on Saturday morning after Wagner fighters seized control of some military facilities in southern Russia.

“The United States will work closely with allies and partners as the situation evolves,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.

Blinken spoke to all his G7 counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Foreign Office said.

The diplomats discussed “the ongoing situation in Russia,” according to a State Department press release that confirmed the call.

“Secretary Blinken reiterated that the United States’ support for Ukraine will not change,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a press release.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin says Putin met with leaders of Russia’s closest allies on Saturday following the armed uprising led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin has spoken on the phone with the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and “updated his counterparts on the situation.”

Putin also spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is a NATO member, but maintains military ties with Russia,

A Kremlin statement said Russian leader Erdogan briefed “about the situation in the country in connection with an attempted armed insurrection,” and that the Turkish president “expressed full support for the steps taken by the Russian leadership.”

The Wagner forces are led by the owner of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin, who on Friday called for an armed uprising to oust Putin’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.

Although the situation on the ground in Russia remained highly volatile and uncertain, there were indications that Wagner’s forces were advancing rapidly towards Moscow.

The governor of Russia’s Lipetsk province said on Saturday that the group of mercenaries had entered the region.

The Lipetsk region is about 360 kilometers south of Moscow and much closer to the capital than Rostov-on-Don, where Wagner troops appeared on Friday night.

Authorities’ take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population. The situation is under control,” Governor Igor Artamonov told Telegram. He gave no details about Wagner’s presence.

Showing how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard rushed to tighten security at key Moscow facilities, including government agencies and transportation infrastructure, Russian state media reported.

Developing story, more to come.