Peskov promised that the legal status of PMCs will be considered – Kommersant

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov commented on the words of Vladimir Putin that the legal entity PMC Wagner does not exist, since there is no law on private military companies in Russia. Mr. Peskov said that this issue would be considered.

When asked by journalists whether PMC Wagner would continue its activities and in what form, Dmitry Peskov referred to Vladimir Putin’s answer: “Yesterday, the president said that such a legal entity as PMC Wagner does not de jure exist and did not exist, that this is a matter for further study and consideration. This is a rather complex issue about the legal status of such companies, which should be studied.”

Then the Kremlin representative was asked whether, in connection with this, legislative changes on the status of PMCs are possible. “At least this issue will be under consideration,” Mr. Peskov replied.

At the same time, the press secretary declined to comment on the details of Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the Wagner PMC commanders: “We do not comment. After all, we are talking about the military, about the Ministry of Defense, so we recommend contacting them.” He added that the authorities have already announced the information that could be shared.

Vladimir Putin met with the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin and his fighters on June 29, five days after the armed mutiny of a private military company and an attempt to reach Moscow. At the same time, about the very fact of the meeting, Dmitry Peskov informed July 10, commenting on the publication of the French newspaper Liberation.

He said that the meeting took place in the Kremlin, lasted three hours and was attended by 35 people. The spokesman indicated that at the meeting, Vladimir Putin and the commanders of the Wagner PMC shared their own assessments of the events of June 24, and the president also offered employment options to the PMC representatives.

On July 13, Kommersant’s special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov asked Vladimir Putin about the details of the meeting after the meeting of the Future Technologies Forum. When asked about the possibility of maintaining the Wagner PMC as a combat unit, the president replied: “There is a group, but legally does not exist.” According to him, the “difficult issue” of legalizing private military companies should be discussed in the State Duma.

Vladimir Putin also told Andrei Kolesnikov that during the meeting he suggested that Wagner PMC “gather in one place and continue to serve” under the leadership of their former commander. According to the president, they “nod” when he spoke about it, but Yevgeny Prigozhin ended up saying that “the guys do not agree with such a decision.”

Details – in Andrey Kolesnikov’s report “PMC” Wagner “does not exist”.

Lusine Balasyan