Vladimir Putin meets with Yevgeny Prigozhin days after failed Russian uprising

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The Kremlin revealed on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagner commanders days after his failed coup.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin invited at least 35 people, including Prigozhin and battalion commanders of the private military group, to the Kremlin on 29 June. The meeting lasted for about three hours.

The revelation marks another surprising turn in the Kremlin’s handling of Prigozhin and his Wagner group following their failed June 23-24 uprising. While Putin initially labeled Sardar a “traitor”, he later dropped all charges and allowed him to leave Russia for Belarus under an agreement brokered by the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko.

Putin’s approval of the meeting with the Wagner leaders – 10 days after the Kremlin said it would – is another sign that Russia was in no rush to harshly punish Prigozhin and is instead keen to keep warlords and other commanders away Was. mercenary group in favor.

Last week, after it emerged that Prigozhin was apparently traveling freely throughout Russia, according to flight tracking of his private jet between Moscow and St. Petersburg, local news outlets reported sightings of Prigozhin in various Russian locations. Report was given.

In his description of the meeting between the president and Prigozhin, Peskov suggested that a civil discussion took place, in which both sides gave their version of recent events rather than Putin harshly reprimanding the Wagner leader over the failed uprising.

“The details of the meeting are unknown. But . , , The president gave his assessment of the battalion in the context of the special military operation (in Ukraine) and also of the events of June 24, ”said Peskov.

He added: “Putin listened to the commanders’ explanations and suggested other options for their employment and use in combat. The commanders themselves gave their version of what happened.

He also reiterated the Kremlin’s previous story that criticism of Prigozhin and other commanders was not directed at Putin himself, but at the overall handling of the war by the army leadership.

“They emphasized that they are strong supporters and soldiers of the head of government and supreme commander in chief (Putin) and said they are ready to fight for the motherland,” Peskov said.

A former caterer who served a prison sentence for robbery during the collapse of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin’s relationship with Putin dates back to St. Petersburg in the 1990s when Putin began visiting Prigozhin’s restaurant.

Prigozhin acted as a kind of fixer for Putin and built up a catering company and private military group with extensive government contracts – ties that make the relationship even harder to unravel.

While the Kremlin has provided little information about the depth of the two men’s relationship, Lukashenko suggested last week that Putin may be more sympathetic to Prigozhin than his initial public statements about the rebellion suggested.

“They had a great relationship with each other. Maybe even more than kindness,” Lukashenko said.

He added: “Speaking in front of the world is one thing, but what you feel inside is a completely different thing.”