Private military contractor Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his associates met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and discussed a range of issues, more than a week after a failed uprising against the top leadership in Moscow, according to Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Did.
According to a French newspaper Freedom According to the report, Prigozhin met with Putin and National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov and SVR foreign intelligence boss Sergei Naryshkin.
A Kremlin spokesman said the meeting was held on June 29, days after the aborted uprising, which is widely seen as a challenge to Putin’s authority since he took power on the last day of 1999.
Peskov told reporters on Monday that Putin had invited 35 people to the meeting, including Prigozhin and Wagner unit commanders, and that the meeting lasted three hours.
“All we can say is that the President has given his assessment of the company [Wagner’s] action at the front during special military operations [in Ukraine] and also gave his assessment on the events of 24th June [the day of the mutiny]Peskov told reporters.
He added that Putin had listened to the commanders’ explanation of what had happened and offered them employment and further options for the war.
“The commanders presented their version of what happened [on June 24], He emphasized that he is a staunch supporter and soldier of the Head of State and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. They also said that they are ready to continue fighting for the Motherland,” Peskov said.
The rebellion was led by Wagner major Prigozhin, who reported that his fighters had controlled key military positions in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. It was later deactivated in an agreement brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin, who linked the chaos to the Russian Revolution of 1917, thanked his military and security services for averting a civil war.
Prigozhin has stated that the purpose of the uprising was not to overthrow the government, but to “bring the army and defense chiefs to justice” for their blunders and unprofessional actions in Ukraine.
Putin has so far kept Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in office, rejecting Prigozhin’s appeals to sack them – at the sight of both men’s appearances on state TV.
Under the terms of the settlement, Prigozhin was to leave for Belarus, ending the rebellion. But Lukashenko said last week that Prigozhin is back in Russia and that Wagner fighters have not yet taken up an offer to relocate to Belarus, raising questions about the agreement’s implementation.
