An officer in the Federal Security Service, the FSB, elaborated on how even the Russian Spetsnaz, or Special Forces, didn’t show up to stop Prigozhin’s army. “None of us knew anything about what was happening and did not understand what it was. But for some reason, two days before the rebellion, the Alpha unit [an elite Spetsnaz unit of the FSB] was transferred to guard Lubyanka,” he said, referring to the FSB headquarters in Moscow.”
“Whether this is somehow related is not clear,” the source explained. “When it started, the Special Operations Forces were raised in Moscow, but without much success. The 45th Brigade of the Airborne Forces did not come out at all on the order to ‘meet Prigozhin,’ nor did a number of other units, including units of the National Guard.”
The FSB source believes that Prigozhin could have pressed on to Moscow if he so chose. “He had the most successful situation. There was no resistance. Why he stopped no one knows for sure.”