His current whereabouts are still unknown. Vladimir Putin met on June 29 in the Kremlin with the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigojine, a few days after his aborted 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.
“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.
“Fighting for the Fatherland”
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 staunch 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 reacted to an article in the French daily Releasepublished on Friday, which, relying on Western intelligence sources, claimed that Yevgeny Prigojine was being held in the Kremlin where he was summoned with his main commanders.
Flash Rebellion
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 Prigozhin’s departure to Belarus, but the latter’s 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.