Live Update
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 25, 2023
Blinken says Wagner rebellion exposed ‘real cracks’ in Putin’s authority

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Beijing, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP)
WASHINGTON — Russia’s crisis involving an attempted mercenary revolt against the Kremlin exposed “real cracks” in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority after he was forced into an amnesty deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says.
The uprising by the Wagner private mercenary group and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin over the weekend marked “a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions, it shows real cracks,” Blinken tells CBS News talk show “Face the Nation.”