The mutiny of Wagner PMC head Yevgeny Prigozhin has also affected allies that the Kremlin counts on during its power grab in Moscow. While Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was hiding in his country residence, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev took control of the situation, the WSJ reports.
He made numerous phone calls and tried to seek support and mediation in the CIS countries: there were calls to the governments of Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Patrushev's call to Kazakhstan was insurance against the worst-case scenario during Prigozhin's invasion. Patrushev was counting on military assistance, as Russia supported Astana during the massive riots in Kazakhstan in early 2022.
According to a Western intelligence official and a former Russian intelligence officer, Kazakhstan could have resisted if the Russian armed forces had not deterred the Wagner mercenaries.
But Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev allegedly refused to participate in the negotiations and distanced himself from the conflict.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan responded to the information presented in the article and denied that Patrushev had called Tokayev.
"This information is not true," said Berik Uali, an adviser and press secretary to the president of Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reported.
The Kremlin refused to comment on the details of this article and only called it "tabloid reading". This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Background. As a reminder, the WSJ wrote a detailed article saying that Prigozhin's murder was organized by Russian Security Council Secretary Patrushev, and that Putin knew about the plan and approved it.