FILE PHOTO: A military column of Wagner private mercenary group drives along M-4 highway, which links the capital Moscow with Russia's southern cities, with smoke from a burning fuel tank at an oil depot seen in the background, near Voronezh, Russia, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
Russia
Mutiny group attempted to get nuclear devices; Russia unaware
The Kremlin dismissed an assertion by Ukrainian military intelligence that members of Russia's Wagner mercenary group had intended to acquire nuclear devices during a failed mutiny in June.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed an assertion by Ukrainian military intelligence that members of Russia's Wagner mercenary group had intended to acquire nuclear devices during a failed mutiny in June.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said Wagner fighters reached a nuclear base - known as Voronezh-45 - in an attempt to obtain small Soviet-era nuclear devices, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The Kremlin has no such information, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that it the assertion looked like misinformation.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)