The United States knew that Prigozhin was preparing to carry out military action against Russia

US intelligence officials informed senior military and administrative officials on Wednesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was preparing to carry out military action against senior members of the Russian defense, according to officials familiar with the matter.

U.S. spy agencies had indications days earlier that Mr. Prigozhin was planning something and were working to refine that material into a final assessment, officials said.

The information shows that the United States was aware of impending events in Russia, similar to how intelligence agencies warned in late 2021 that Vladimir V. Putin was planning to invade Ukraine.

But unlike the original invasion, when US officials declassified the intelligence and then released it in an attempt to dissuade Mr. Putin from invading, the intelligence agencies kept quiet about the plans by Mr. Prigozhin. US officials felt that if they said anything, Mr Putin could accuse them of orchestrating a coup. And they clearly had little interest in helping Mr. Putin avoid a major and embarrassing breakdown in his support.

In this case, the information that the feud The long-running relationship between Mr Prigozhin, who got his start as 'Putin's boss' in St Petersburg, and Russian defense officials was on the brink of a conflict was seen as both solid and alarming. Mr. Prigozhin is known for his brutality, and had he succeeded in ousting officials, he would likely have been an unpredictable ruler. And the possibility that a major nuclear rival of the United States could descend into internal chaos brought a new set of risks.

Although it is unclear exactly when The United States was first informed of the plot, as intelligence officials held briefings with administration and defense officials on Wednesday. As further confirmation of the plot arrived on Thursday, intelligence officials briefed a select group of congressional leaders, according to officials familiar with the briefings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak. publicly. By Friday night, Mr Prigozhin had escalated his feud significantly, launching a march on Moscow that the Russian government has described as an attempted coup. On Saturday, he recalled his fighters and agreed to flee to Belarus.

CNN reported earlier that the United States informed congressional leaders of its concerns regarding Mr. Prigozhin's preparation to challenge Russian military leadership.

ImageU.S. officials say Mr. Prigozhin hates Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister, and the feeling is mutual. Credit... Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, via Associated Press

For years, Mr. Prigozhin hated Sergei K. Shoigu, the minister of Defense, and General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, and the feeling was mutual, US officials said. But it took the war in Ukraine, officials said earlier this year, for the animosity to spill out into the open, frequently voiced by Mr Prigozhin in moody messages on Telegram, a media platform social.

In recent months, intelligence officials have been monitoring the growing animosity between Mr. Prigozhin and Russian Defense Ministry leaders and have spent considerable time to analyze it.

The conclusion of the intelligence agencies was that this was a clear sign of the internal tensions caused by the war in Ukraine, a product of Russia's struggle to adequately supply its troops.

This was an indication, according to one official, of how badly the war was going for Wagner and the regular army.

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