WP: Russian special services warned Putin about Prigozhinʼs rebellion

Author:
Anna Kholodnova
Date:

Russian special services warned Russian President Putin at least two or three days in advance that Prigozhin was preparing a rebellion. However, some representatives of the security forces believed that the preparations for the rebellion could be Prigozhinʼs bluff in order to gain more leverage.

The Washington Post writes about this with reference to sources.

According to the newspaper, the Russians have increased security measures at several strategic sites, in particular, in the Kremlin — there they increased the number of presidential guards and distributed more weapons, but did not take any further measures.

"Putin had time to make a decision to liquidate [the rebellion] and arrest the organizers. Then when it started to happen, there was paralysis on every level... There was absolute terror and confusion. They didnʼt know how to react for a long time," one of the European officials told reporters.

The lack of orders from the Kremlinʼs high command forced local officials to decide on their own how to act, WP interlocutors said. Without clear orders, the local authorities and the military decided not to interfere with the PMC "Wagner".

"The local government did not receive any commands from the management. From our point of view, this is the biggest sign of an unhealthy situation inside Russia. An authoritarian system is formed in such a way that without a very clear leadership team, people do nothing. When the leadership is in confusion and disorder, the situation is the same at the local level, even worse," a senior Ukrainian official told reporters.

European security officials are sure that many of the Russian elite support Prigozhinʼs desire to remove Russiaʼs top military leadership.

"Some people supported Prigozhin and the fact that the leadership needs to be cleaned, that the fish is rotting from the head," said one of these officials.