Ukraine Invasion: 31 NATO Countries Criticize Putin After 25,000 Mercenaries’ Revolt In Russia

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has called out Russian President Vladimir Putin over his military’s ongoing war in Ukraine, citing the recent mercenary attack in his country as proof that he made a mistake by ordering the invasion of a neighbouring country.

The view was shared on Monday by NATO’s Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, who also serves as the principal spokesperson of the treaty made up of 31 countries including the United States and France.

NATO is a military alliance created in the 1970s (chief among the pioneers are US, France, and Portugal) to defend member states that suffer attack from another country.

The Secretary believes that the action taken so far by Putin has backfired with the rebellion of the head of the Wagner paramilitary group and mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose operatives struck Russia over the weekend and attempted to advance towards its capital, Moscow.

“We are monitoring the situation… the events over the weekend are an internal Russia matter and yet another demonstration of the big strategic mistake President Putin made with his illegal annexation of Crimea and the war against #Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in a tweet shared by NATO spokesperson, Oana Lungescu.

Prigozhin, who has been Putin’s close ally for many years, criticized him and his top military generals for abandoning them to die at the war front in Ukraine.

On Saturday, he claimed to have reentered Russia with 25,000 mercenaries and seized a military facility in the southern part of the country.

Putin was forced to issue a national address describing the development as a stab from a betrayer, vowing harsh consequences for the revolters.

The revolt died down on Sunday when the Wargner chief pulled back his troops from advancing towards Moscow and multiple media reports say they have returned to their bases in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs linked the development to “US-led/sponsored wars”, saying Russia will end in humiliating defeat, hasty retreats and abandoned allies resulting in “wasted taxpayers’ money and human lives lost.”

But the government of Germany thinks otherwise, tweeting on Monday that the rebellion showed “massive cracks” in Putin’s leadership and among his leaders.