Russian President Vladimir Putin met with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin days after he led his private army on a short-lived rebellion against Moscow, the Kremlin has revealed.
Mr Prigozhin and his private Wagner group carried out the attempted uprising on June 24, taking control of the Russian city of Rostov in what Putin branded a “treasonous mutiny”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has now revealed a three-hour meeting took place June 29 - five days after Mr Prigozhin staged an attempted uprising - between the president and the mercenary leader.
It also involved commanders from Wagner, the military company Mr Prigozhin founded.
Mr Peskov said that during the meeting, Putin offered an “assessment” of the Wagner group’s actions on the battlefield in Ukraine and “of the events of June 24.”
The president also “listened to the explanations of the commanders and offered them options for further employment and further use in combat,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
“The commanders themselves presented their version of what happened. They underscored that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the commander-in-chief, and also said that they are ready to continue to fight for their homeland,” Mr Peskov said.
Wagner mercenaries have fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, but Mr Prigozhin has a long-simmering conflict with the Russian military’s top brass.
This culminated in the armed mutiny in which Mr Prigozhin led his fighters into Russia on June 24.
Mr Prigozhin ended the mutiny after a deal was brokered, in which it was agreed he would be exiled to Belarus.
But Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko revealed last week Mr Prigozhin is reportedly already back in Russia.
“As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Mr Lukashenko told reporters on Thursday.
Critics have said the attempted uprising by Mr Prigozhin, though short-lived, exposed ”real cracks” in Putin’s authority.
