US kept detailed intelligence on Wagner plans secret from most allies
US intelligence officers were able to gather an extremely detailed and accurate picture of the plans of Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin for his rebellion, but the intelligence was shared only with selected allies and was not disclosed to Ukraine in advance.
Source: CNN, referring to its sources, as reported by European Pravda
Details: According to the TV channel's sources, it was not clear when Prigozhin would act, but it seems that he decided to start implementing his plan after the Russian Ministry of Defence announced on 10 June that all private military companies, including Wagner, would be forced to sign contracts with the Russian military starting in July.
The intelligence was so classified that in the US, only the most senior officials of the Biden administration and members of the Congressional Group of Eight, who have access to the most sensitive intelligence, were privy to it.
The US shared the data with senior UK officials but not with NATO allies on a broader level, the sources said.
The secrecy of the intelligence meant that some senior European officials and even senior US government officials were caught off guard by Prigozhin's rebellion on Friday and the speed with which Wagner's troops advanced towards Rostov-on-Don and Moscow on Saturday morning, as the sources said.
Some NATO officials expressed disappointment that the intelligence was not made public. But doing so could have compromised extremely sensitive sources and methods.
Ukrainian officials were also not informed of the intelligence in advance, according to the sources. This was primarily due to fears that conversations between US and Ukrainian officials could be intercepted by the Russians.
According to CNN sources, during the Wagner mutiny, allies at various levels warned Ukrainian officials against striking Russian territory during the rebellion.
US President Joe Biden stressed that the United States and its closest allies were not involved in the Wagner mutiny, commenting publicly on Russian events for the first time this weekend.
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