More than a week after a failed coup against the top leadership in Moscow, the head of private military contractor Wagner and his colleagues met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and discussed several issues, according to Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Discussed.
According to a report, Prigozhin met with Putin and the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and the head of the SVR foreign intelligence, Sergei Naryshkin.
A Kremlin spokesman noted that the meeting came days after the aborted June 29 coup, 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 the commanders of the Wagner unit, and that the meeting lasted three hours.
“All we can say is that the president gave his assessment of the actions of the company [Wagner] at the front during the special military operation [in Ukraine] and also his assessment of the events of June 24 [the day of the uprising]. Peskov told reporters.
He said Putin listened to the commanders’ own explanations of what had happened and offered them more options for employment and combat.
“The commanders outlined their version of what happened [on June 24]. They emphasized that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. They also said That they are ready to continue the war. Motherland,” Peskov said.
The uprising was led by Wagner’s chief Prigozhin, who reported that his fighters had taken control of key military positions in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. It was later derailed in a deal brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Linking the chaotic events to the 1917 Russian Revolution, Putin thanked his military and security services for what he called a civil war.
Prigozhin has said the coup was not aimed at overthrowing the government, but to “bring to justice” the army and defense chiefs for what he called their mistakes and unprofessional actions in Ukraine.
Putin has so far kept Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in place, following both men’s appearances on state TV – rejecting Prigozhin’s appeals to fire them.
Prigozhin was meant to leave for Belarus under the terms of the agreement that ended the rebellion. But Lukashenko said last week that Prigozhin had returned to Russia and Wagner’s fighters had not yet offered to move to Belarus, raising questions about the deal’s implementation.
