That was supposedly the plan behind Prigozhin’s mutiny Why Prigozhin put Roger Koeppel and Tucker Carlson in the dust

Yevgeny Prigozhin allegedly tried to capture the two top Russian military decision-makers during his mutiny last weekend. He allegedly attacked the Supreme Commander of the Russian Army in Ukraine, Valery Gerasimov, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and sped up his operation after Russian domestic intelligence found out about the plot. The Wall Street Journal reported this on Wednesday based on Western intelligence sources.

The two soldiers had planned a visit to Rostov-on-Don. The American newspaper reports that the arrest should have taken place there. However, according to Western officials, the Federal Security Service (FSB) learned of the plan two days before it was due to be implemented. Apparently, the “arrest” should have taken place on the weekend of the mutiny.

General Viktor Zolotov, commander of the Russian National Guard, a military unit that reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, also said authorities knew about Prigozhin’s intentions before he launched his alleged coup attempt.

In the past, Wagner boss Prigozhin had repeatedly attacked Gerasimov and Shoigu in videos, audio messages and social media texts, accusing them of sabotaging his work and that of his mercenaries, including by not supplying ammunition. He also directly blamed them for the deaths of dozens of Russian soldiers. You can see more about this here. He had avoided direct criticism of the Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin; Prigozhin was under his protection for a long time.

“Concrete information about preparations for an uprising to begin between June 22 and June 25 leaked from Prigozhin’s camp,” Russian general Zolotov told state media on Tuesday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Western secret services also found out about Prigozhin’s plans early on through the analysis of intercepted electronic communications and satellite imagery. Relevant officials told the US newspaper that they believed the original plan had a good chance of success, but collapsed after the conspiracy came to light and Prigozhin was forced to implement an alternative plan.

According to Prigozhin, part of the Russian armed forces should have joined the uprising and turned against their own commanders, the Secret Service said, according to the Wall Street Journal. As a result, when Prigozhin learned of the leak, he had to act ahead of schedule on Friday; he then succeeded in taking the southern Russian city of Rostov, a key command point for the invasion of Ukraine. You can read the current developments after the coup attempt here.

On Wednesday it was announced that General Sergei Surovikin, the commander of the Russian air force, may have been aware of the incident. This was reported by the “New York Times”, but the Kremlin denied it as “speculation and gossip”. Surovikin became commander-in-chief of the Russian army in Ukraine in 2022 and is still a recognized soldier in Russia after his discharge there.

Surovikin was the first commander-in-chief to condemn Friday’s attempted coup and urged Prigozhin to stop his men. Troops under Surovikin’s command conducted airstrikes against the Wagner column. It was the only attack by regular troops against the insurgents.

Since the attempted march on the Russian capital, it has remained unclear how the paramilitaries managed to advance so far inland, although the authorities were probably aware of it. Observers believe that some regular forces commanders may have been involved in the plot. Since then, the power of Kremlin dictator Putin has been greatly weakened.

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(t-online, cli)