Evgeny Prigozhin was informed ahead of time that a failure by Wagner troops to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry would result in their funding being cut off, and that his men would be left unable to take part in the military operation in Ukraine, Russian Duma defense committee head Andrey Kartapolov has said.
"Several days before the mutiny attempt, the Defense Ministry announced that all formations carrying out combat missions must sign a contract with the Defense Ministry. Everyone started to implement this decision - this absolutely correct decision. Except Mr. Prigozhin. He was informed that in that case Wagner would not take part in the special military operation," Kartapolov told journalists on Thursday.
Kartapolov characterized Prigozhin's mutiny attempt as a combination of three factors. "First was money, second was foolish and exorbitant ambitions, and third was a state of emotional excitement," he suggested.
On Friday, June 23, forces of the Wagner Group (PMC) seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, following accusations leveled against the Russian Ministry of Defense for allegedly striking the group's camps. Both the Russian military and the Federal Security Service have denied the allegations.
On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that he had spent the entire day negotiating with Yevgeny Prigozhin, as agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result of the talks, the Wagner group leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of his troops in Russia and take measures to de-escalate the situation.
The mutiny attempt prompted Russian lawmakers led by Kartapolov to draft a bill to more tightly regulate the activities of private military companies.
The mutiny attempt sparked what Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov characterized as "wishful thinking" on the West's part about Russia's statehood and the military operation in Ukraine. Officials in Kiev admitted openly that they were hoping for the tensions between Prigozhin and the MoD to escalate into a "civil war." President Putin confirmed Tuesday that Russian forces who protected "the constitutional order and our citizens lives, security and freedom" had "saved our motherland from turmoil and in fact prevented civil war."