Global Courant
US intelligence agencies allegedly obtained information in mid-June that Wagner chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin was planning “armed action” against the Russian establishment.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing several US officials, that Prigozhin even warned the White House and other US agencies about his plot “so they wouldn’t be caught off guard.”
The officials said senior leaders at the Pentagon, State Department and Congress had been briefed on the intelligence over the past two weeks, though the exact timing of Prigozhin’s plot had remained unclear until Wagner’s leader revealed it. took over military command and sailed the tank to Moscow. Friday and Saturday.
There was reportedly “great concern” in Washington over the possible prospects of what would happen to Russia’s nuclear arsenal if President Vladimir Putin were removed from power and if “civil war” broke out in Russia.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the military company Wagner Group, looks out from a military vehicle on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday, June 24, 2023, leaving part of the headquarters of the Southern Military District. . (AP photo)
Prigozhin, dubbed “Putin’s cook” because of his catering contracts with the Kremlin, had publicly protested the Russian Defense Ministry’s June 10 order that all volunteer detachments should sign contracts with the government, considering the directive as an attempted takeover of the Wagner mercenaries who played an important tactical role in Putin’s military campaign in Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official told the Post that the Ukrainian military was watching Prigozhin after the June 10 announcement and “increasingly believed he could mobilize troops against Moscow,” although that person claimed to have been unaware of the sharing of similar intelligence by the US with Kiev. .
“Tensions between the Wagner Group and the Russian defense ministry are no secret,” a senior Biden administration official told the Post, without commenting on US intelligence. “We have all seen Mr. Prigozhin publicly criticize, warn and even threaten the Russian military on a number of occasions.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the military company Wagner Group, records his video speeches in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023. The owner of the private military contractor Wagner called for an armed uprising. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP)
Prigozhin had accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering an attack on his mercenaries and called for “an end” to Shoigu’s leadership, the Post reported.
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Even as his fighters moved swiftly toward Moscow on Saturday, Prigozhin did not directly criticize Putin, claiming instead that his goal was to oust the Russian defense establishment he has labeled corrupt and incompetent. Press noticed.
Wagner Group mercenaries sit in their military vehicles as they prepare to leave Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023. (AP photo)
Prigozhin, who reportedly came within 120 miles of Moscow before the agreement was reached, was unusually quiet on Sunday as his Wagner private army withdrew from Russian cities following a Kremlin announcement that he agreed to leave for Belarus, the government said. AP. judges that it remains unclear whether he is actually there.
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A deal — reportedly negotiated with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Putin — undoes Prigozhin’s control of Wagner, but it’s unclear whether any of his fighters will follow him to Belarus, either out of a sense of loyalty or out of dismay at being enlisted in the Russian army as contract soldiers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
