Ukrainian intel chief claims Russian spies tasked with ‘killing’ Prigozhin.

Russian Intelligence Ordered to Assassinate Paramilitary Chief in Retaliation for Uprising

According to Ukraine’s top military spy, Russian intelligence officials have been given the task to “assassinate” paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as a response to the Wagner Group’s failed uprising.

“The FSB was charged with a task to assassinate him,” Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the Ukrainian defense intelligence chief, told the War Zone. “Will they be successful in doing that? We’ll see with time. So in any case, all of such potential assassination attempts will not be fast.”

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Prigozhin halted his forces’ lightning march on Moscow when they reached the outskirts of the capital. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have brokered a deal to provide “security guarantees” to Prigozhin, thus avoiding a confrontation between Wagner Group fighters and Kremlin loyalists. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to honor this agreement, but the uprising has significantly damaged his reputation as the ruling power in Russia.

“It seems that Putin is not the only master in town and that he has lost what Machiavelli said is the basis of a state, which is the monopoly of force,” European Union High Representative Josep Borrell told reporters Thursday. “Putin has lost the monopoly of force, and certainly [an] unstable Russia becomes also a risk. Until now we were looking at Russia as a threat, because it was a force, and force has been used in Ukraine. Now, we have to look at Russia as a risk because of the internal instability.”

Russian officials have claimed that the government and society have “consolidated” behind Putin during the Prigozhin incident.

“Trials have always made … Russia stronger,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday. “It will be the same this time, too. Moreover, we can see that the process has already begun.”

However, these assurances have not convinced Russian dissidents or international observers, especially considering Prigozhin’s initial success in occupying a major regional military headquarters in southern Russia.

“If it were true, then Prigozhin wouldn’t have even made it as far as Rostov,” Russian historian Andrey Zubov told Meduza.

The Wagner Group uprising came to an end after Putin and the FSB denounced Prigozhin’s march. Zubov commented on Putin’s leadership, stating:

“Putin […] has inherited that same gang of Bolsheviks that took power in 1917. Putin basically serves as the head of the Cheka, the Bolshevik party’s secret police, and its successor organizations, who got rid of anyone that stood in their way,” Zubov said, according to a Meduza summary of his remarks. “That’s one of the main characteristics of Putinism, says Zubov: ‘an inherited criminal system, based on the abuse of power,’ which they actively continue.”

Maj. Gen. Budanov, while confirming that the FSB has been instructed to kill Prigozhin, expressed uncertainty about whether Putin can rely on the FSB to carry out all his orders.

“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,” he said. “But once again, I’d like to underline that it’s a big open question. Would they be successful in fulfilling that? Will they dare to execute that order?”

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