The Russian presidency announced, on Monday, that Vladimir Putin met on June 29 in the Kremlin with the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a few days after his aborted rebellion.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting lasted “about three hours,” adding that 35 people participated in it, including “all leaders and leaders” of the Wagner Group.
“The[Russian]president gave his assessment of Wagner’s activities on the Ukrainian front,” Mr. Peskov noted, as well as his “assessment of the events of June 24,” the date of the group’s insurrection.
A spokesman for the Russian president confirmed that Vladimir Putin “listened to the (Wagner) leaders’ explanations and offered them alternatives for their future work and use for military purposes.”
The (Wagner) leaders presented their version of the facts. They confirmed that they are convinced by the supporters and soldiers of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief (Vladimir Putin) and confirmed that they are ready to continue fighting for the Fatherland.
The Kremlin responded to an article in the French daily launchpublished on Friday, which claimed, relying on Western intelligence sources, that Yevgeny Prigozhin was being held in the Kremlin where he had been summoned with his main commanders.
Wagner’s rebellion, led on June 24, shook the Russian power, in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
France Press agency
For several hours, Wagner fighters occupied the headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov-on-Don (southwest) and drove several hundred kilometers towards Moscow.
The rebellion ended on the evening of 24 June with an agreement that Mr. Prigozhin would leave for Belarus, but his exact whereabouts have not been known since then. He has not spoken publicly since June 26.
For his part, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, last Thursday, that Yevgeny Prigogine is still “free” in Russia, despite the agreement that stipulates his departure to Belarus.
Yevgeny Prigogine maintained that his uprising was not aimed at overthrowing power, but at saving Wagner from the dismantling of the Russian General Staff, which he had violently accused for months of incompetence in the conflict in Ukraine.
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