The White House said Monday it was “too early to know” what impact it would have on the region the Wagner Rebellion last weekend in Russia.

“The president is focused on supporting Ukraine. We do not support any side in this internal matterWhite House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a daily press briefing.

But he added sharply: “The history of this conflict has shown that the Russian army he is not so praiseworthy as perhaps they wanted to describe themselves”.

Focusing on the 16-month-old war in Ukraine, he said: “what we’re trying to do is make sure that the Ukrainians have everything they need to succeed in this fight.”

Asked by a reporter about President Joe Biden’s comments in March 2022 — about a month after Russia started the war — he said, “For God’s sake, this man (Putin) can’t stay in power,” Kirby replied, “The change regime is not our policy. We’ve been very, very clear about that.”

“What we are focused on is making sure that Ukraine can succeed on the battlefield,” he added.

Last year, Biden clarified that he made the off-text remarks out of “outrage” but that he was not advocating “regime change.”

Kirby also declined to comment on whether the US government considers the events that took place with the Wagner Group to be a “mutiny, coup, attempted coup or armed insurrection.”

“Noisy rhetoric”

Asked about the possibility of nuclear escalation, Kirby pointed out that Russia is a nuclear power, adding that the US is “watching” Russia’s strategic posture and capabilities.

“Besides the noisy rhetoric, we haven’t seen any indication that there is an intent to use (Russian) nuclear weapons inside Ukraine,” Kirby noted, adding: “We have seen nothing that would compel us to change our own strategic deterrence posture.