MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Fighters of the Wagner PMC advanced quickly across the country because the main forces to repel them were concentrated near Moscow, National Guard Director Viktor Zolotov told reporters on Tuesday.
"We concentrated all the forces precisely on the approaches to Moscow, because if we scattered the grouping, they would have just moved through like a knife through butter," he said. A striking force was concentrated to deal with Wagner, Zolotov added.
The National Guard chief stressed that he had been in constant touch with President Vladimir Putin and with the leadership of the federal executive authorities.
On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the PMC Wagner, said on his Telegram channel that his units had been attacked, and accused the military leadership of Russia of doing so. The Defense Ministry dismissed these allegations as false. PMC Wagner units who agreed to support Prigozhin headed for Rostov-on-Don and towards Moscow. The FSB opened a case over the call for armed mutiny. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised address described the PMC Wagner’s actions as treason.
Later, by agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin. The PMC Wagner’s convoys turned back and returned to their field camps. On Tuesday, the FSB’s public relations center said the criminal case had been dropped.