By Ismail Shakil
OTTAWA (Reuters) -The aborted mutiny in Russia is an internal issue for Moscow and speculation over it could prove counterproductive, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday, joining Western allies in taking a wait-and-see approach to a revolt that has sown doubt over President Vladimir Putin’s grip on Russia.
Senior Russian officials rallied around Putin on Monday, after the aborted mutiny by mercenaries led by former ally Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to pose the greatest threat of his 23-year rule amidst Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Everyone has a lot of questions about what this actually means, but we don’t yet have a lot of answers and too much speculation right now I think could probably be extremely counterproductive,” Trudeau told reporters in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, after meeting leaders of Nordic countries.
Trudeau said he had serious conversations about the possible implications of Russia’s internal challenges in meetings with his Nordic counterparts.
Trudeau said there was a risk of advancing what he described as Russian propaganda and that the best approach would be to not get involved.
“We need to make sure that we are not facilitating the liberal use of propaganda and disinformation that we know the Russians tend to do and … carefully monitoring and watching but not getting involved, I think is the responsible and safe thing to do,” said Trudeau, whose government is a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
His comments were similar to those of U.S. President Joe Biden that the uprising was part of a struggle within the Russian system and Washington and its allies were not involved.
On Monday night Putin made a defiant televised address, saying he had deliberately let Saturday’s 24-hour mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries go on as long as it did to avoid bloodshed, and that it had reinforced national unity.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Grant McCool)
