Prigozhin was announced before the rebellion that Wagner PMC was removed from the special operation – Kommersant

A few days before the attempted rebellion, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner PMC, was informed of the need to sign a contract, said Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee. Otherwise, he was promised to be banned from participating in a special military operation and receiving funding for this. According to the deputy, all formations agreed to the signing, except for Wagner PMC.

“A few days (before the rebellion.— “b”) The Ministry of Defense stated that all formations that perform combat missions must sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. And everyone began to implement this decision, an absolutely correct decision. Everyone except Mr. Prigogine. Then he was informed that in this case, “Wagner” would not take part in a special military operation. That is, there will be no funding, material resources. For Mr. Prigozhin, this is the main, if not the main thing,” Mr. Kartapolov told reporters.

“The following happened. The first is money. The second is stupid and exorbitant ambitions. The third is an excited state. Taken together, all this resulted in an attempt to treason and deception of his comrades-in-arms, ”the deputy added.

Earlier, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that the Wagner PMC planned to hand over the equipment on July 1 as a sign of protest due to the order of the Ministry of Defense obliging all volunteers to sign contracts with the department. However, later, according to Mr. Prigozhin, the positions of the PMCs were hit and they decided to march on Rostov-on-Don and Moscow.

Russian authorities accepted his actions as an armed rebellion and opened a criminal case under the relevant article. PMC fighters crossed the border, established control over military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and entered several Russian regions with military equipment and weapons. Situation was settled by the evening of June 24 through the mediation of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Evgeny Prigozhin informedthat his fighters went to field camps. The founder of the PMC himself must leave for Belarus. The Russian authorities pledged to close the criminal case against Mr. Prigozhin and not prosecute the rebels.

Read more about the settlement – in the material “Kommersant” “Disarmed rebellion”.

Leonid Uvarchev