Peskov: the issue of the status of PMCs will be under consideration

The issue of the legal status of private military companies (PMCs) should be studied, this issue will be considered. This statement was made by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

“Yesterday, the president, answering a question from a Kommersant correspondent, said that de jure such a legal entity as PMC Wagner does not exist and never existed. And that this is a question for study, consideration of an additional, rather complex issue, in general, about the legal status of such companies, which should be studied,” he said.

Answering a clarifying question about the possibility of creating legislation on PMCs, Peskov said that this issue “will be under consideration.”

The Kremlin representative refused to disclose other details of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin.

On July 13, Putin in an interview with Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov declaredthat from a legal point of view PMC “Wagner” does not exist. He recalled that in Russia there is no law on private military organizations, noting that the issue of legalizing PMCs should be discussed in the State Duma.

In an interview, Putin also revealed the details of the meeting with Wagner fighters. According to the president, he assessed the actions of the servicemen on the battlefield and during the attempted military mutiny on June 24, and also offered them alternatives for further service. One option was to continue serving under their direct commander, call sign Seda, under whom the fighters had served for the past 16 months.

June 29 Putin in the Kremlin Meets with 35 Wagner fighters, including Prigozhin. The Kremlin specified that the meeting lasted almost three hours.