Wagner boss meets Vladimir Putin after mutiny
July 10: Russian President Vladimir Putin met mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after the failed Wagner group mutiny last month, the Kremlin says.
Prigozhin, who heads the Wagner mercenary group, was among 35 people invited to the meeting in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added. He said that President Putin had given an "assessment" of the Ukraine war effort and the mutiny.
The rebellion launched on 23 June lasted only 24 hours. Under a deal to end the stand-off, charges against Prigozhin were dropped and he was offered a move to Belarus.
There had been very public infighting between Wagner and Russia's Ministry of Defence over the conduct of the war. Prigozhin had repeatedly accused the ministry of failing to supply his group with ammunition. But on Monday, Peskov said the Wagner chief was among the commanders who were invited to the Kremlin five days after the mutiny collapsed.
"The president gave an assessment of the company's actions on the front," Peskov is quoted as saying by Interfax news agency, "He also gave assessment to the 24 June events. Putin listened to the commanders' explanations and suggested variants of their future employment and their future use in combat."
According to the spokesman, Prigozhin told Putin that Wagner unconditionally supported him. The Wagner chief's current whereabouts are unclear.
Last Thursday Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko - who brokered the deal that ended the mutiny - said Prigozhin was in Russia. The BBC tracked Prigozhin's private jet flying to Belarus in late June, and returning to Russia the same evening.
The Wagner Group is a private army that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine since last year's invasion. But following setbacks for Russia on the battlefield, Prigozhin took to social media to lash out at the high command.
He has been particularly scathing about Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. Prigozhin did not directly condemn Putin during the mutiny, but analysts described it as the biggest challenge to the president's authority in more than two decades in power.
(BBC)
