Blinken sent urgent telegram to US diplomats over rebellion in Russia – Axios
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in an urgent telegram on Friday evening, ordered State Department officials not to speak out about the rebellion unfolding in Russia.
Source: The Hill, citing three American officials, reports European Pravda
Details: The urgent communication, which was sent to all US diplomats around the world, showed the level of anxiety in the Biden administration about the events in Russia and how important it is for the White House and the State Department to control American messages about the situation in the public and private space, the news outlet emphasises.
In the telegram, Blinken ordered all State Department employees not to discuss the situation in Russia with anyone, US officials said.
If US diplomats were asked about the events in Russia by representatives of foreign governments, they were only supposed to answer that the US was monitoring the situation, the telegram said.
The telegram specified that the Secretary of State and his closest staff were dealing with the situation.
One US official told the newspaper that the impression among those who received the communication was that it was sent to make sure that no US diplomat said anything that might make it appear that the US was in any way involved in the crisis.
Another US official said that the situation in Russia was very unclear at the time the telegram was sent, and it appears that Blinken wanted US officials to keep quiet until more details about the situation were available.
In several interviews over the weekend, Blinken said the crisis was an internal Russian affair and the US had nothing to do with it.
Background: CNN reported that US intelligence officers had been able to collect an extremely detailed and accurate picture of the plans of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group, regarding his rebellion, but the intelligence data had been shared only with selected allies.
According to the TV channel’s sources, allies at various levels appealed to Ukrainian officials during the Wagner rebellion with warnings against striking the territory of Russia during the rebellion.
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