Western intelligence agencies knew that Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had been planning a rebellion, the head of Vladimir Putin's security service said.
The head of Russia's National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, said the mutiny "was prepared" and "inspired by Western intelligence agencies," who knew about it "a few weeks before it began."
Zolotov's comments were his first since Prigozhin seized military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and marched on Moscow with a view to overthrowing the military establishment for its conduct in the war against Ukraine.
Questions are swirling around over the lack of a coordinated response by the Russian authorities to Prigozhin's mercenaries, who managed to barrel towards the capital with little resistance.
Citing U.S. intelligence, The New York Times reported that senior Russian general Sergei Surovikin and potentially other high-ranking military officials had advance knowledge of Prigozhin's plans.
However, a former British envoy to Moscow told Newsweek that the claims were part of a U.S. attempt "to sow discord between the Russian political and military leaderships."
Separate to the Russian army, the National Guard that Zolotov heads, or Rosgvardiya, is the country's internal military force and reports directly to Putin. Its roles include protecting infrastructure and the country from internal threats.
According to state news agency Interfax, Zolotov said Prigozhin's camp had been "stuffing information" about preparing for a rebellion between June 22 and June 25.
Despite questions about the inability of Russian authorities to stop Prigozhin's mutiny, Zolotov insisted that the National Guard "worked perfectly, clearly, smoothly and competently."
He added that the mutiny was handled in a "well-coordinated" operation with the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The New York Times reported that U.S. officials said there are signs Russian generals may have supported Prigozhin's attempts to change the leadership of the Russian defense ministry and command in Ukraine headed by Valery Gerasimov, who replaced Surovikin as the top commander in January.
John Foreman, the former U.K. defense attache to Moscow, told Newsweek the claims were part of an attempt by the U.S. "to sow discord between the Russian political and military leaderships who historically don't trust each other."
He said they were also aimed at trying "to portray as disloyal a more competent—if thuggish—Russian general to remove him from the picture."
"It could just be the intelligence community in DC portraying an omnipotent access to disturb the Kremlin and make it look harder for traitors and 5th columnists.
"We don't know the nature of the alleged advance knowledge of the mutiny," said Foreman, including whether Surovikin "became passively aware that Prigozhin was up to something or was an active plotter lined up to become the Chief of General Staff."
