(LibertySociety.com) – National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby avoided entertaining the media’s fishing expedition, somewhat messily, when he was asked about whether he would like to see a regime change in Russia. It is unclear if Kirby was trying to prevent his opinion from being tied to the reporter’s reference to “the devil you know” or if he truly did not know what the reporter meant.
The reporter asked if Kirby was more comfortable with Russian President Vladimir Putin than someone else leading the nation because he is familiar with Putin’s tactics. Kirby responded by stating that he may not have understood the question, attempting to answer when the reporter decided to rephrase the question.
Kirby told the reporter that he believes the people of Russia should choose who their leader is and attempted to shift the conversation back to the war in Ukraine. He said that the focus should be on the United States’ efforts to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to drive Russian troops out of the country, calling on Russia to stop its invasion and remove all of its troops.
Reporters in the briefing room refused to back off from questioning about the incident that happened on June 23. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, a mercenary group that has been fighting with Russian soldiers in Ukraine, claimed that he was planning to retaliate against President Putin for ordering a missile strike that killed several of his men.
Kirby did his best to make the briefing about the war, stating that the conflict between Putin and Prigozhin was an internal matter, but did make it clear that the United States had successfully communicated to Russia that they did not have anything to do with Prigozhin’s actions. President Biden also spoke on the matter on June 26, claiming that the United States was not involved. He called the rebellion “part of a struggle within the Russian system.”
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