Vladimir Putin met with Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner PMC commanders

On June 29, Vladimir Putin met in the Kremlin with the commanders and management of the Wagner PMC, including Yevgeny Prigozhin. This was told to journalists by the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov.

“Judging by the number of questions that I received from you, obviously you will ask me about the publication of Liberation regarding the meeting in the Kremlin. Indeed, the president had such a meeting. He invited 35 people to it, all the commanders of the detachments and the management of the company [ЧВК “Вагнер”], including Prigogine himself. This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29 and lasted almost three hours. Its details are unknown,” Peskov said.

He said that “the president gave an assessment of the company’s activities at the front during the SVO, and also gave his assessment of the events of June 24.” “Putin listened to the explanations of the commanders and offered them further options for employment and further combat use. The commanders themselves presented their version of what happened. They emphasized that they were staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the Supreme Commander. And they also said that they were ready to continue to fight for the Motherland,” Peskov said. He refused to reveal any other details. When asked whether representatives of the Ministry of Defense took part in the meeting, Peskov did not answer.

Liberation newspaper, citing Western intelligence sources reportedthat the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has allegedly been in Moscow since July 1. According to the publication, together with the PMC commanders, he was invited to the Kremlin, where he was supposed to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, head of the National Guard Viktor Zolotov and director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin.

On the night of June 24, PMC Wagner, led by Prigozhin, attempted an armed rebellion in Russia. As the founder of the PMC previously stated, the fighters had 200 km to go to Moscow. After negotiations with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin decided to stop the movement to the capital and return to the rear camps of PMCs.

On the evening of June 24, the Kremlin reported on the agreements reached with the founder of the PMC to de-escalate the situation, in which Lukashenka played a key role. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov clarifiedthat the criminal case initiated against Prigozhin would be dropped, and he himself “would go to Belarus.”

June 27 FSB stopped a criminal case on the fact of an armed rebellion, since its participants stopped illegal actions.

On the same day, Lukashenko announced that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus, but already on July 6 he clarified that the founder of Wagner was not in the republic, but in the Russian Federation. “As for Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg. Where is he this morning? Maybe he went to Moscow in the morning, ”- did not rule out Belarusian leader Prigozhin’s trip to the Russian capital.

In the Kremlin emphasizedthat they do not follow the movements of Prigozhin, and did not answer the question whether the absence of the founder of the PMC in the republic is a violation of the terms of the agreement to end the rebellion.