Updated 23:55 | Published 23:31
Crisis meetings broke out in Washington on Friday night as the Wagner group began its “justice march” against Moscow.
According to American intelligence, it was known that some form of rebellion would take place.
– The tension had been building for so long without anything actually happening, a source told CNN.
Shortly after the Wagner Group began its “justice march” on Moscow on Friday night, panic broke out in Washington.
Several sources state to CNN that US intelligence had been monitoring the Wagner group for a long time and knew that Prigozhin had plans to challenge the Russian military.
But that the ultimate goal must have been unclear.
According to the source information, congressional leaders, known as the “Gang of Eight”, should have been notified earlier this week regarding the movement of the Wagner group and the transfer of weapons to Russia.
Held crisis meetings
While the drama unfolded around Prigozhin’s march on Moscow on Friday night, Washington held crisis meetings to chart the course of events.
But the advance was so fast that American and European intelligence personnel did not understand what was actually going on.
According to CNN sources, they had never predicted that the Wagner group would storm the Rostov region.
– It is so difficult to know what was just talk and what actually happened, a source told CNN.
A European intelligence source tells CNN that “the temperature is undeniably raised,” but that no one thought the Wagner group would move as they did.
“Want to avoid carnage”
Tossing and turning between the messages has taken place since Wagner’s military march began.
On the way to Moscow, about 45 kilometers south of the capital, Prigozijn announced on Saturday evening that the troops were being withdrawn to “avoid a bloodbath”.
The announcement came after an agreement was reached during a telephone conversation between the Wagner boss and Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko.
“We have reversed our forces and now we are going in the opposite direction,” said the Wagner boss in a statement according to, among other things Moscow Times.
And at 10 p.m., Swedish time, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti that the criminal investigation into mutiny against Prigozijn was closed.
The message continued with information that Prigozijn will not return to the military camps in Ukraine. Instead, he is going to Belarus. But what he will do there is unclear.
Met with cheers and shouts at departure
Yevgeny Prigozhin was met with cheers and cheers as he left the headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov-on-Don. It shows a video published by Financial Times journalist Max Seddon on Twitter.
Russian Ria Novosti also reports that it is Prigozhin who is gliding in a dark SUV on the streets of Rostov.
In the video, a group of people can be seen approaching the car and taking Prigozhin by the hand.
FACTS 24 hour rebellion – this has happened
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