Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered mercenaries from the Wagner Private Military Company the option to continue serving as a single unit under the same officer when he joined them five days after the group’s abortive revolt last month that raised the more serious threat to his 23-year government in the midst of war in ukraine.
In comments to the Kommersant business daily published on Friday, Putin described an event in the Kremlin attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the head of the group, Yevgeny Prigozhinon June 29. He said he told them about his actions in Ukraine, his mutiny – which he denounced as an act of treason in a televised address to the nation – and offered them various alternatives for future service.
Putin told Kommersant that one option would be for Wagner to continue serving under the same commander who goes by the name Gray Hair, a man who has run the military company’s operations in Ukraine for the past 16 months.
Russian lawmakers have approved a stricter version of a bill banning gender transition procedures, with added clauses annulling marriages in which a person has “changed gender” and barring transgender people from becoming parents. adoptive or adoptive
The Russian Defense Ministry says that the Wagner Group mercenaries are completing the handover of their weapons to the military.
Iran summoned Russia’s ambassador after Moscow released a joint statement with Arab countries this week challenging Iran’s claim to disputed islands in the Persian Gulf.
“All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,” Putin told the newspaper, “and nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their true commander all along.”
Putin said that many of Wagner’s commanders nodded in approval when he made his proposal, but Prigozhin, who was sitting in front and did not see his reaction, quickly dismissed the idea, replying that “the guys will not agree to such a decision. ”
Putin did not mention where and in what numbers Wagner might be deployed, nor did he say which, if any, proposal Wagner’s commanders ultimately agreed to.
The Russian president previously said Wagner’s troops had to choose between signing contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, moving to neighboring Belarus or withdrawing from service.
Putin’s comments came in a brief interview with a Kommersant reporter who has chronicled Putin’s activities since his rise to power and has special access to the president. His comments could be part of efforts to denigrate Prigozhin as he tries to maintain control over Wagner’s mercenaries and ensure his loyalty.
The Russian president earlier said Prigozhin’s company received billions of dollars from state coffers and said investigators would see if any of the funds had been stolen, a warning to Prigozhin that he could face financial crime charges.
State-controlled media published videos and photos of Prigozhin’s opulent mansion in Russia’s second-largest city showing piles of cash, gold bars and fake passports. The images appeared to be part of the authorities’ smear campaign against Wagner’s boss, who has portrayed himself as an enemy of corrupt elites despite the fact that he owes his wealth to Putin.
Putin also pointed out that Wagner has operated without a legal basis.
“There is no law on private military organizations. It just doesn’t exist,” he told Kommersant, adding that the government and parliament have not yet discussed the issue of private military contractors.
During the revolt that lasted less than 24 hours on June 23 and 24, Prigozhin’s mercenaries he quickly passed through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, capturing the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before driving to about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Moscow. Prigozhin described the movement as a “justice march” to oust Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov, who demanded that Wagner sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1.
The mutiny faced little resistance and fighters shot down at least six military helicopters and a command post plane, killing at least 10 airmen. Prigozhin called his mercenaries back to his camps after reaching an agreement to end the rebellion in exchange for amnesty for himself and his mercenaries, and permission to move to Belarus.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered the deal that ended the riot, has said that Prigozhin was in Russia while Wagner’s troops were in their camps. He did not specify the location of the campsbut Prigozhin’s mercenaries fought alongside Russian forces in eastern Ukraine before their revolt and also have bases on Russian soil.
Asked if Prigozhin and his mercenaries would eventually move to Belarus, Lukashenko said that would depend on the decisions of chief Wagner and the Russian government.
While Prigozhin’s fate and the terms of the deal remain unclear, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Wagner was completing the hand over their weapons to the Russian army.
His disarming of Wagner reflects the efforts of the Russian authorities to defuse the threat they posed and also appears to herald the end of the mercenary group’s battlefield operations in Ukraine, where Kiev forces are involved in a counter-offensive.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.