The US was aware of Wagner's plan but kept it secret from its allies.

"The United States and its allies had nothing to do with the Wagner mercenary uprising against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military commanders," President Biden asserted on June 26. This was his first public comment on the brief uprising in Russia.

"This is part of an internal struggle in Russia," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Biden said he convened a conference call with several key U.S. allies when the coup led by Wagner operative Yevgeny Prigozhin occurred, and the allies agreed not to give Putin any excuse to blame the incident on the West or NATO.

Although Biden insisted that the U.S. had no involvement in the incident, U.S. intelligence officials had gathered an extremely detailed and accurate picture of Wagner's plans, including the locations and methods Wagner planned, CNN reported.

However, intelligence information is closely guarded and shared only with a select few allies, including senior British officials, and not at the NATO level, CNN reported.

World - CNN: The US knew Wagner's plan but kept it secret from its allies. — US President Biden said that the US and its allies have nothing to do with the Wagner Group's insurgency in Russia. Photo: The Guardian

Ukrainian officials were also not briefed on the intelligence beforehand, officials said, primarily due to concerns that conversations between U.S. and Ukrainian officials could be intercepted.

In the United States, this information is only disclosed to the highest-ranking government officials, as well as those with access to the most sensitive intelligence matters.

According to CNN, US intelligence simply doesn't know exactly when Prigozhin will act, but it appears he decided to proceed with his plan after the Russian Defense Ministry 's June 10 announcement that all private military companies, including Wagner, would be forced to sign contracts with the Russian military starting in July, and would essentially be taken over by the Ministry.

However, to the surprise of U.S. intelligence officials, Wagner faced very little resistance.

“The fact that a group of mercenaries—I don’t think there were as many as 25,000 as Prigozhin claimed—were able to march into Rostov, a city of millions, and take it over with virtually no shots fired is unprecedented,” said Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressing his skepticism.

World - CNN: The US knew Wagner's plan but kept it secret from its allies (Figure 2). — Mercenary boss Evgeny Prigozhin ordered his forces to withdraw to their bases after talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who acted as an intermediary for Russian President Putin. Photo: France24

Following the failed uprising, Biden spent days speaking with allies, including the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In those conversations, he shared information the U.S. had gathered, CNN reported.

U.S. and Western officials believe that Putin was simply caught off guard by Prigozhin's actions and didn't have time to deploy troops against the Wagner mercenaries before they seized control of the military base in Rostov. Officials said Putin may also have been unwilling to move critical resources out of Ukraine.

However, officials believe that if Prigozhin attempted to seize Moscow or the Kremlin, he would certainly lose. This may be why Prigozhin agreed to the deal brokered by Belarus and decided to withdraw his troops when they were only about 200km from Moscow, CNN reported .

Nguyen Tuyet (According to CNN, NY Times)

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