American intelligence was able to gather extremely detailed and accurate information on the intentions of Wagner PMC head Yevgeny Prigozhin, but did not share this information with most of its US allies. It was reported by the American TV channel. CNN.
The information gathered by US intelligence agencies was so confidential that it was brought to the attention of only the most senior administration officials, as well as senators and congressmen with access to national security matters. Only a select few of Washington’s allies were notified, including senior British officials.
According to CNN, the secrecy surrounding the intelligence was why some top European and even US officials were caught off guard by events in Russia. Some NATO officials expressed disappointment that the intelligence the Americans had received was not passed on to them. However, according to the channel’s interlocutors, the transmission of information to NATO allies could lead to the disclosure of highly classified sources.
The Ukrainian authorities were also not informed in advance, as there were fears that this information might be intercepted by Russian special services.
Mark Warner, previously chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. knowledgeable About the possible place of Yevgeny Prigozhin in Minsk.
On the evening of June 23, the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense allegedly attacked the rear camps of his private military company, and his fighters were advancing towards the territory of the Russian Federation. a “justice march”. The Ministry of Defense denied this, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against Prigozhin for organizing an armed rebellion.
On the morning of June 24, the forces of the PMC “Wagner” blocked the administrative buildings in Rostov-on-Don and began to advance towards Moscow, President Vladimir Putin made an appeal in which the head of the PMC called his actions ” a knife in the back” and about the consequences Prigozhin and his subordinates warned. Supported by the State Duma, the Federation Council and the heads of a number of regions, the Chechen “Akhmat” forces were sent to Rostov.
In the evening, the press service of the President of Belarus informed about the negotiations between Alexander Lukashenko and Prigozhin, as a result of which the parties agreed on “an acceptable option for resolving the situation with a guarantee of security for company fighters.” The head of Wagner PMC, accused of rioting, said he decided to reverse his columns and send them back to field camps.