Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private military company, did not comply with the decision of the Russian Defense Ministry on contracts and was informed that Wagner would not participate in the special operation, Andrey Kartapolov, the chairman of the Russian lower house's defense committee, said.
"A few days before the attempted rebellion, the Defense Ministry announced that all formations that perform combat missions must sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. And everyone began to implement this decision, an absolutely correct decision. Everyone, except Prigozhin. Then he was informed that in this case, Wagner will not take part in the special military operation," Kartapolov told reporters.
Prigozhin was also informed that if the contracts were not signed, he would not receive funding, the lawmaker added.
On the night of June 23, the Wagner PMC seized an army headquarters in the Russian southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
This followed statements by the group's chief Prigozhin that the Russian Armed Forces had allegedly launched missile strikes against the Wagner camps, although this was denied by both the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
The FSB opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for organizing an armed mutiny.
The armed mutiny was halted thanks to the difficult negotiations conducted throughout Saturday by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in coordination with Vladimir Putin.
According to the FSB, the investigation found that the participants in the mutiny had ceased their actions, directly aimed at the commission of the crime; therefore, the criminal case was terminated on June 27.