(Moscow) Vladimir Putin met on June 29 in the Kremlin with the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, a few days after his abortive rebellion, the Russian presidency announced on Monday.
The meeting lasted “almost three hours,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that it had involved 35 people, including “all the commanders and leaders” of the Wagner group.
PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yevgeny Prigozhin
“The (Russian) president gave his assessment of the activities” of Wagner on the Ukrainian front, indicated Mr. Peskov, as well as “his assessment of the events of June 24”, the date of the rebellion of the group.
Vladimir Putin “listened to the explanations of the commanders (of Wagner) and offered them alternatives for their future work and their employment for military purposes”, further affirmed the spokesperson for the Russian president.
“The commanders (of Wagner) gave their version of the facts. They underlined that they were convinced supporters and soldiers of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief (Vladimir Putin) and affirmed that they were ready to continue fighting for the motherland,” he continued. .
The Kremlin was reacting to an article in the French daily Liberation, published on Friday, which, based on sources in Western intelligence, claimed that Yevgeny Prigojine was detained in the Kremlin where he was summoned with his main commanders.
Wagner’s rebellion, led on June 24, shook Russian power, in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
For several hours, Wagner’s fighters occupied a Russian army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don (southwest) and traveled several hundred kilometers towards Moscow.
The mutiny ended on the evening of June 24 with an agreement providing for Mr. Prigojine’s departure for Belarus, but his exact whereabouts have since been unknown. He has not spoken publicly since June 26.
For his part, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said last Thursday that Yevgeny Prigojine was still “free” in Russia, despite the agreement providing for his departure to Belarus.
Yevgeny Prigojine assured that his uprising was not intended to overthrow power, but to save Wagner from a dismantling by the Russian general staff, which he violently accused for months of incompetence in the conflict in Ukraine.