NEWSWEEK
Russia’s security services are engaged in an ongoing assassination plot against Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to Ukraine’s head of defense intelligence.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov made the claim in an interview with The War Zone, a part of the auto news outlet The Drive. Budanov said that Kyiv had been aware of Prigozhin’s mutiny plans “for quite a while” and insisted that the mercenary group will no longer be a threat in Putin’s full-scale invasion.
Prigozhin said on June 24 his forces had taken control of military facilities in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don after claiming his troops had been targeted by the Russian army.
He called off his troop’s march to Moscow in rebellion against Russia’s military leadership following a reported deal which would see him, and some of his troops, exiled to Belarus.
When asked if he believed Prigozhin “will be assassinated by Putin,” Budanov replied, “We are aware that the FSB was charged with a task to assassinate him.”
“Will they be successful in doing that? We’ll see with time,” he said, adding, “Potential assassination attempts will not be fast. It will take them some time to have the proper approaches and to reach the stage when they’re ready to add a huge operation.”
“It’s a big open question. Would they be successful in fulfilling that? Will they dare to execute that order?” he said. Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment via email.
Zev Faintuch, senior intelligence analyst at the security firm Global Guardian, recently told Newsweek that Prigozhin was still useful to Putin and that the deal struck to call off the mercenary chief’s mutiny was “temporary.”
Faintuch said the Russian president is waiting “for the right moment to eliminate him at a time when he deems the likelihood of blowback from the ultranationalists to be lower.”
“Prigozhin’s mutiny expanded the sphere of acceptable government criticism and needs to be made an example of,” Faintuch observed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Wagner would still operate in Africa. The group gives Russia access to key minerals and resources; experts acknowledge the group is valuable to Moscow and will continue to push Kremlin policy aims abroad. Meanwhile, Wagner centers in Russia are continuing to recruit personnel.
However, Budanov said that Prigozhin and Wagner will not pose problems for Ukraine in Belarus, where camps for the mercenary group are reportedly being built “because a massive restationing of the PMC (Wagner Group) to Belarus is not planned.”
The hub there is “for logistic purposes,” he said, which is “being created for Wagner operations overseas, mostly in Africa.”
Budanov believes that the agreement Prigozhin struck has “bought some time” for Russia’s leadership but that their position of power “was greatly undermined” by last week’s mutinty and “will never be the same again.”
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