Wagner rebellion shows ‘cracks’ in Putin’s leadership, Blinken says

Here’s what to know

• Prigozhin’s forces, which have supplemented Russian troops in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, took control of a Russian military facility before marching toward Moscow early Saturday, coming within about 120 miles of the capital.
• Prigozhin had called for Russians to join Wagner’s campaign late Friday after claiming that a Wagner camp in Ukraine had been attacked “from the rear” by Russia’s military. The Russian Defense Ministry denied the accusation, and state media suggested video of the strike had been staged.
• The incident has exposed deep fissures in Putin’s regime — particularly among members of Russia’s elite who may have agreed with Prigozhin’s increasingly vocal criticism of the war and how it was being run.
• U.S. spy agencies this month picked up intelligence suggesting that Prigozhin was planning armed action against Russia’s defense establishment. The White House and officials in the Pentagon and the State Department, as well as leaders in Congress, were informed of the development, as instability from a “civil war” would be a concern to the United States, officials said.