Wanted to Yevgeny Prigozhin Overthrow the Russian government or protest to prevent their mercenaries from being absorbed by the professional army? Was he really trying to stage a coup or was it a wake-up call? Was Russia on the brink of civil war and Putin on the brink of the abyss or was everything under control?
Since last weekend the head of the Wagner Group started an armed rebellion against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to stop it dead hours later and flee to Belarus, uncertainty has not stopped increasing. Both Prigozhin’s and Putin’s versions have varied in form and content at a time of enormous information chaos.
However, several days after that failed riot, have started to come to light some details about what the leader of the paramilitary group responsible for some of the worst massacres in Ukraine was really up to.
[Prigozhin reaparece: “Hemos dado una master class de cómo habría que haber invadido Ucrania”]
Apparently, Prigozhin planned capture Russian military leaders as part of a rebellion that he was forced to carry out after Russian intelligence discovered his intentions, as revealed this Wednesday The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) citing Western sources.
According to these sources, the Wagner leader intended to capture the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoiguand to the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, during the visit they were going to make to a border area with Ukraine. However, the Russian secret services (the FSB) discovered his intentions two days before his execution.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov attend a meeting.
To do this, according to the information obtained by the WSJ, Prigozhin had been accumulating weapons and ammunition for months, and hoped that part of the Russian Armed Forces would join the insurrection. This, however, was stopped thanks to the mediation of the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkowhich managed to close an agreement between the Kremlin and the Wagner Group.
Was Surovikin the rat?
The agreement consisted of stop the riot in exchange for the cancellation of the criminal charge for armed rebellion against Wagner’s boss as soon as he left for Belarus. Likewise, he also contemplated allowing the mercenaries who had revolted with Prigozhin to go to the neighboring country or sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense or other Russian security agencies to subordinate themselves to legal and official structures, according to Efe.
[¿Qué ha pasado en Rusia y cuál es la situación de Putin hoy? Por Nicolás de Pedro]
How the information got to the FBS is still a mystery. However, according to wsj and the New York Times – citing US officials – some senior military officials, possibly including General Sergei Surovikina former senior Russian commander in Ukraine known as “the butcher of Syria”, knew in advance of Prigozhin’s plans and probably intended to support him.
Facing the public, however, Surovikin was the first high command to condemn the plot on Friday and to urge Prigozhin to arrest his men, reports the WSJ. Along these lines, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskovhas denied this Wednesday the information, which has been labeled “speculation and gossip.”
