 Prigoshin's killing ordered by Putin's Security Council chief. Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigoshin's dramatic death by plane crash was ordered by Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and former spy The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Western intelligence agencies and a Russian intelligence officer. Patrushev warned Putin about Prigoshin as the former convict became increasingly outspoken against Russia's military leadership and its handling of the war in Ukraine, the publication reported. Putin's warnings went unheeded because Wagner had been successful on the battlefield. Putin realized the problem when Prigoshin called him to complain about Wagner's lack of supplies, a former Russian intelligence official told The Wall Street Journal. Patrushev was present during the call and used it to justify sidelining Prigoshin. Frozen out and angered by plans to subsume the Wagner group into Russia's defense ministry, Prigoshin declared a mutiny against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Army chief Valery Garasimov. His June 23-24 March of Justice saw Wagner's forces occupy the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and take control of the headquarters of Russia's southern military district. Meanwhile, with Putin in a villa far from Moscow, Patrushev searched for mediators to stop Wagner's advance toward the capital. Patrushev organized Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's role in negotiating a deal with Prigoshin to stand down. He had also requested military aid from Kazakhstan if the Russian army could not put down the rebellion, but President Kasim Yomar Tokaev refused. The Wall Street Journal reported. In the months following the mutiny, Prigoshin continued traveling to Africa where Wagner had a large military and business presence and working in Russia. You can see that Putin's plan was to keep the dead man walking so they could continue to find out what happened. Rolf Mohat Larson, a former CIA chief in Moscow, told The Wall Street Journal. Western intelligence agencies cited by WSJ said Patrushev started designing a plan to dispose of Prigoshin in August. Putin did not object when he was shown the proposal, the newspaper said. Later that month, as Prigoshin waited in a Moscow airport for an aircraft safety check to finish, intelligent officials believe a small bomb was placed under the plane's wing. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the report pulp fiction. We have seen this material, but we would not like to comment on it. It is unlikely that such materials can be commented on, he said.