Prigozhin May Have Had Help From Top Russian General: NYT

At least one senior Russian military commander knew about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to stage an armed uprising before he unleashed his private militia over the weekend, The New York Times reported on Tuesday night. Several U.S. officials briefed on the insurrection said they were still trying to ascertain whether the leader—Gen. Sergey Surovikin—helped Prigozhin in a more direct manner, emphasizing that American intelligence on the matter was still preliminary. Surovikin, who commanded Moscow’s forces in Ukraine from last October until his removal in January, was one of the high-profile Russian officials who publicly urged Wagner fighters to return to their bases on Friday. But one former official compared a message he recorded asking the mercenaries to give up to “a hostage video.” It is unclear what could happen to Surovikin if evidence is found that he aided the rebellion. “Putin is reluctant to change people,” Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told the Times. “But if the secret service puts files on Putin’s desk and if some files implicate Surovikin, it may change.”