MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov said that Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was informed of the need to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry, which he did not agree to several days before the attempted mutiny.
"The Defense Ministry said several days before the attempted mutiny that all formations performing combat missions should sign a contract with the ministry, and everyone began to implement this decision, an absolutely correct decision. Everyone except Mr. Prigozhin," Kartapolov told reporters on Thursday.
Prigozhin "was told that in this case Wagner would not take part in the special military operation, so there would be no funding, no material assets, and for Mr. Prigozhin this is the main thing, if not the most important thing," Kartapolov said.
"The following occurred: the first was money, the second was a stupid and exorbitant ambition, and the third was an excited state of mind," he said.
"All of this combined resulted in an attempt at high treason and the deceiving of their comrades in arms," Kartapolov said.