WASHINGTON: Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin aimed to detain the heads of the Russian military in last week’s mutiny, but they discovered his planned rebellion early and avoided capture, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper cited Western officials who said that Prigozhin sought to seize rivals Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, and chief of staff Gen Valery Gerasimov while they were on a visit to southern Russia.
But the Russian domestic security service FSB learned of the plan and Shoigu and Gerasimov changed their travel plans, the Journal said, citing unnamed officials.
That forced Prigozhin to move early, and on Friday his Wagner forces seized control of the headquarters of the Russian Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, a key logistics and command centre for the war on Ukraine.
US officials have told the media that they knew days ahead about the planned uprising, in which Prigozhin sent a column of forces from his privately run army toward Moscow before giving up as President Vladimir Putin branded the group “traitors”.
Prigozhin is now in Belarus and the Russian army is in the process of taking control of military hardware used by his mercenary army and bringing its fighters under Moscow's control.
Also citing unnamed US officials, the New York Times reported that senior Russian Gen Sergei Surovikin knew in advance of Prigozhin’s mutiny plans.
The advance knowledge by top military officials could have prevented potential allies of Prigozhin and Wagner from joining the revolt, contributing to its failure.
Russian National Guard Commander Viktor Zolotov said on Tuesday that there were leaks from Wagner about the revolt, and alleged that Western agents could have been behind it, according to Russian state media.