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

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 Friday, June 23, forces of the Wagner Group (PMC) seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, following accusations leveled against the Russian Ministry of Defense for allegedly striking the group's camps. Both the Russian military and the Federal Security Service have denied the allegations.

On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that he had spent the entire day negotiating with Yevgeny Prigozhin, as agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result of the talks, the Wagner group leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of his troops in Russia and take measures to de-escalate the situation.

Putin guaranteed that the Wagner group fighters would have the opportunity to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, return home, or move to Belarus.