Putin met Prigozhin for private talks in Moscow after mutiny
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Vladimir Putin held a secret meeting with Yevgeny Prigozhin five days after the Wagner chief’s failed mutiny, despite promising to punish him over the rebellion.
The Kremlin said that Putin had called the meeting to hear first-hand why the group had rebelled five days earlier.
“Putin listened to the explanations of the [Wagner] commanders and offered them further options for employment and combat options,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said.
Putin, meanwhile, had an unusually light public schedule on the day of the meeting. His only official engagement was a speech at a strategy forum in the Russian capital.
Putin agreed to allow the Wagner founder and his men to move to Belarus and to drop criminal cases of armed mutiny against them as part of the arrangement.
Mr Peskov said that Prigozhin and his commanders had apologised to Putin at last month’s meeting and insisted that the target of their rebellion was the Russian Ministry of Defence.
“They emphasised that they were staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the supreme commander in chief, and also said that they were ready to continue to fight for the Motherland,” Mr Peskov said.
Peskov’s confirmation of the meeting came after French newspaper Libération reported that Putin and Prigozhin had held in-person talks on Jul 1, citing an unnamed Western intelligence source.
Analysts said the move to meet with Prigozhin indicated Putin may still be reliant on the Wagner chief despite the recent turmoil.
Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Wagner mercenaries were heavily involved in, has continued to falter in recent weeks and Russia’s president appears increasingly isolated following the Jun 24 rebellion.
The apparent inaction of the Russian military to stop Prigozhin’s uprising has raised questions over whether Putin can count on the loyalty of his security forces.
Putin has already promised to beef up the National Guard, which reports directly to him, and may also want to ensure the loyalty of battle-hardened Wagner fighters.
Russian officials have made only a half-hearted effort to close Wagner down since its rebellion, pressuring its fighters to sign contracts with the military or relocate to Belarus and pulling down roadside advertising, although its recruiting systems are still working.
Lukashenko said last week that Prigozhin was back in Russia and that Wagner fighters had not yet taken up the offer to relocate to Belarus, raising questions about the implementation of the agreement.
Konstantin Sonin, professor of public policy at the University of Chicago, said that Putin’s apparent rapprochement with his former ally showed him to be a “dysfunctional autocrat”.
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