The leader of the Wagner Group planned to kidnap Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his ‘number two’ Valery Gerasimov during their failed rebellion. This is suspected by US Intelligence based on the leaks obtained about the operation and analyzing the movements of Evgueni Prigozhin, who ended up accepting the order to withdraw when his column of 8,000 mercenaries was two hundred kilometers from Moscow.
The paramilitary chief tried to capture the two senior Kremlin officials, with whom he has had a secular confrontation for months, taking advantage of an inspection trip to the troops stationed in southern Ukraine. However, the plan was frustrated because Shoigu and Gerasimov modified their trip after being warned by the Russian security services of Prigrozhin’s intentions, reports ‘The Wall Street Journal’ exclusively. This circumstance precipitated the head of the Wagner Group to precipitate his movements in a kind of flight forward with the occupation of the Russian city of Rostov and its military quartering. Apparently, he supposed that the minister and his deputy, who is also an adviser to President Putin, would have stopped in this town located one hundred kilometers from the border.
As reported in days past, US intelligence was aware of the mutiny and last Wednesday informed the president. Joe Biden, to the leaders of Congress and to the commanders of the Pentagon. However, they preferred to remain silent in the event that Moscow took any suggestion of an ongoing revolt as an attempt by the White House to encourage the ouster of President Vladimir Putin. The CIA was convinced that the FSB, the former Russian KGB, also found out about Prigozhin’s plans at least hours in advance, as now appears to be confirmed.
In fact, the mercenary chief himself boasted on Saturday, once Rostov had been taken, of having put the defense minister and the top head of military operations to flight, but without offering other details. Shoigu and Gerasimov visited the troops on Monday, once the rebellion had been completely deactivated. The kidnapping attempt would confirm that Prigozhin’s objective was not to overthrow Putin, but to take revenge on a military leadership whose inefficiency he has attributed all the mistakes of the invasion and blamed for the deaths of thousands of his mercenaries. Not long ago, the veteran leader recorded himself pledging that he would do justice in a field, surrounded by the corpses of paramilitaries. The video was once again intended to criticize the Defense Ministry and shake up the networks of Russian propagandists who consider Shoigu weak and incompetent.
The leaks of the plan would come from within the Wagner Group itself, although it is also possible that various senior military commanders were aware of everything and had brought it to the attention of the FSB. There is a suspicion that Prigozhin could only carry out this almost suicidal coup under the conviction that a part of the Defense hierarchy and even some oligarchs would support him.
Right now, General Surovikin, nicknamed the ‘butcher of Syria’ for his brutality in this war, is ‘disappeared’ and, according to ‘The New York Times’, is being investigated for his possible collusion with Prigozhin, his friend since the beginning. Syrian conflict and also a defender of his expeditious strategies on the Ukrainian front. Surovikin was revealed from his position as top commander of Russian forces in Ukraine last January, further angering the head of the Wagner Group. Prigizhin, according to some sources, has been locked up since his arrival in Belarus in a highly secure, windowless accommodation for fear of being killed.
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