Biden calls Putin a pariah as Ukraine war drags on

President Biden on Wednesday said it’s “hard to tell” if Russian President Vladimir Putin has been weakened by a recent Wagner revolt, but asserted the Kremlin leader is a pariah on the global stage.

Mr. Biden weighed in on Mr. Putin days after the chief of the Wagner mercenary group turned against his Russian bosses in a weekend revolt — only to call off his troops and flee to Belarus in return for amnesty.

Mr. Biden said he’s not sure what the revolt means for Mr. Putin’s standing, at one point misstating the country that Russia invaded in February 2022.

“It’s hard to tell, but he is clearly losing the war in Iraq,” Mr. Biden said, presumably meaning Ukraine. “He’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world.”

The president said he was briefed “hour by hour” on the Wagner revolt, which forced Mr. Putin to give a public address, days later, in which he decried the potential bloodshed and insisted his country is unified.

Mr. Biden said he remained in constant contact with allies to forestall any attempt by Mr. Putin to blame the revolt on the U.S. or other Western nations.

At the same time, the White House has been reluctant to wade too far into Moscow’s internal affairs.

“We’re just not going to engage in a whole lot of speculation about what we’re witnessing right now,” principal deputy White House press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters Wednesday.

She declined to comment on what Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, intended to achieve during the brief mutiny.

“Look, this is an internal matter for Russia, as the president has said. Our continued focus remains on supporting Ukraine,” she said.

The situation is spilling into the president’s 2024 reelection battle.

Former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, says Mr. Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he had still been in the White House.

Mr. Biden has responded by saying Mr. Trump was reluctant to criticize Mr. Putin during his presidency.