State-run media outlets in China have weighed in on the Wagner Group mutiny in Russia, predicting that the incident will threaten President Vladimir Putin's "political stability."
Wagner Group, the preeminent private military company in Russia, began carrying out an armed mutiny against the Kremlin on Friday on the orders of its leader, oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. The one-time close ally of Putin called for a war against the Russian Ministry of Defense after alleging that Russian military forces attacked and killed a group of Wagner troops stationed in Ukraine.
The mercenary army reportedly took control of military sites in the city of Rostov-on-Don and was en route to Moscow when the insurrection came to an abrupt end. Prigozhin, it was reported, had accepted a deal brokered with the help of the Belarusian government that would call for him to de-escalate his forces in exchange for safety guarantees.
Despite the incident coming to an end, it has nonetheless sparked intense speculation about the impact it will have on Russia moving forward. In an opinion piece published by the state-run Chinese outlet, The Global Times, just before Wagner forces stood down, writer Hu Xijin, the former Communist Party secretary of the publication, predicted that the mutiny would have a major impact on Russia's stability and that Prigozhin would meet a "tragic" end.
"Overall, the Wagner mutiny has had a significant impact on Putin administration and Russia's political stability," Xijin wrote. "Anything could occur next. But I have a bold judgment: whatever will be staged in Russian politics next, Prigozhin's personal political end will be tragic."
The writer also claimed that that situation was "trending in the direction that both the West and Ukraine would prefer," arguing that Ukraine can not defeat Russia militarily and so must rely on efforts to "stimulate and drive internal unrest in Russia."
In another editorial on the incident, state-run China Daily urged that the mutiny should spur renewed efforts for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
"Now is the time for all peace-loving countries in the world to rally to the cause of persuading the two belligerents to sit down and talk," the article said.
"No country is in a position to savor the experience of schadenfreude while witnessing the Moscow drama as if it is safely watching a deadly fire from across a river. China is willing to work with all parties in pursuit of a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and it will do all it can to facilitate the process of diplomatic negotiations, and create and accumulate the conditions for the final settlement of the crisis," the article added.
In a Sunday statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Chinese government had "expressed support for the efforts of the leadership of the Russian Federation to stabilize the situation" and "reaffirmed its interest in strengthening the unity and further prosperity of Russia."
Newsweek reached out to foreign defense policy experts via email for comment.
