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Western Spy Agencies Had Hand in Wagner Mutiny, Russian National Guard Chief Suggests

Sputnik News

20230627

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov on Tuesday pointed out that Western intel must have had a hand in the mutiny staged by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private military company, adding that these agencies had info that the failed revolt was to occur anytime around June 22-25.

Viktor Zolotov, who heads the Russian National Guard, believes Western spy agencies are likely to have had a hand in plotting the aborted Wagner armed mutiny in the country. According to him, the insurrection was inspired by the West and meshed with the ambitions of the leader of the Wagner private military company. A slew of 'planted leaks' about the conspiracy to commit this mutiny also came from the "Prigozhin camp".

"They [Western agents] had found out about it, as they said, a couple of weeks ahead of time. And I must say that such 'planted leaks' were also spread from the Prigozhin camp. Well, they were so narrowly focused to the effect that this mutiny was in the making and was supposed to take place from the 22nd to the 25th of the month. And that's exactly what happened. This shows that it was inspired by the West and, it seems, they goaded Prigozhin himself into taking this step, or maybe he was going too far with his ambitions, so to speak, and he wanted to go higher still," he told journalists.

"I am not excluding the presence of Western intelligence agents there," Zolotov added.

On June 23, PMC Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the Russian Armed Forces had fired missiles at a Wagner base. The Russian Ministry of Defense refuted these allegations, but shortly afterward, a contingent of Wagner forces seized several administrative buildings in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and embarked on a march toward Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a televised address to the nation, branding the Wagner head's actions as an armed insurrection and a betrayal of the homeland.

Later, Putin agreed to mediation efforts by his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko with Prigozhin, which lasted throughout Saturday.

As a result of these talks, Prigozhin halted the march on Moscow by Wagner troops and ordered them to return to their field camps.

© Sputnik