US Intelligence officials informed the Congress about PMC Wagner’s movements and equipment build-ups earlier in the week, CNN reports, citing three sources.
The officials believe that the head of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin planned to challenge the Russian military leadership for a long time. One of the sources told CNN that, according to US officials, Prigozhin’s claims about the lack of ammunition were a “deliberate deception, to help lay the groundwork for a potential military challenge to Russian leaders”.
Another CNN source said that “it all happened very quickly” and it was difficult to understand how serious Prigozhin was about his intentions.
The Washington Post reports that US spy agencies “picked up intelligence” about Prigozhin preparing armed action in the middle of June. Several officials told WP that the White House had been informed about the Wagner chief’s plans, however there was no real understanding what Prigozhin was going to do. The newspaper’s sources believe that the “key trigger” for Prigozhin was the Russian Defence Ministry order, dated 10 June, on all volunteer detachments having to sign contracts with the military.
According to one of the sources, the biggest fear for Washington’s officials in the last two weeks was the threat of a civil war starting in Russia.
CNN previously reported that US officials were following the situation in Russia closely after Prigozhin’s threats to the Russian military leadership.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin held phone talks with Defence Ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom to discuss the situation in Russia. The Pentagon did not provide any details of the conversations. “The United States will stay in close coordination with Allies and partners as the situation continues to develop. Secretary Austin also reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change,” the statement reads.
On 23 June, the head of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin announced the beginning of a de-facto armed conflict with Russia’s Defence Ministry. Soon after, counter terrorism operations were declared on the territory of Moscow, the Moscow region, and the Voronezh region of Russia.
By the evening of 24 June, Prigozhin announced the withdrawal of his troops that were on their way to Moscow and return to combat positions after day-long negotiations with Belarus’ Alyaksandar Lukashenka. Afterwards, the Kremlin declared that the criminal case initiated against Prigozhin had been dropped — the government made a deal stipulating that Wagner troops would go back to their campgrounds while Prigozhin would “leave for Belarus”.
