FSB instructed to kill Prigozhin - Ukraine's Intelligence Chief

Russia's FSB has been tasked with liquidating the leader of the "Wagner" PMC Yevheny Prigozhin after a failed mutiny last weekend.

Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said this in an interview with The War Zone, Ukrinform reports.

"We are aware that the FSB was charged with a task to assassinate him (Prigozhin - ed.). 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. 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. 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?" Budanov said.

According to him, if Prigozhin had realized his initial plan with the rebellion, Russia would have already been divided into at least two parts.

"Because had Prigozhin entered an empty Kremlin that day, he would have shown to the public that the Kremlin is empty. There are no ministers. There are no real high-ranking officials there. They all have escaped, and he would demonstrate that there's no authority in power currently in Russia. But on the other hand, some officials from St. Petersburg or elsewhere would start claiming that they're the legitimate power which makes a situation of two powers in the country, which immediately would be split. But given the fact that they've managed to come to an agreement, which they did, it bought some time for the Russian leadership, for the Russian authorities. But still, their stance as all-controlling a pillar of power was greatly undermined by Prigozhin’s actions and it will never be the same again", Budanov added.

As Ukrinform reported, on June 23, the leader of the "Wagner" PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a demarche against the Russian military leadership, in particular against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

As a result of the offensive, the Wagner PMC column reached the Lipetsk region of Russia, 420 kilometers from Moscow.

Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held talks with the founder of the "Wagner" PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin, after which he said that the group's fighters were returning to field camps.

Photo: Defense Intelligence of Ukraine