Putin reports that Prigozhin rejected an offer made to him

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, confirmed on Friday that he had proposed that the Wagner Group operatives serve under a different commander from within this armed group. However, their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rejected this offer after his brief rebellion.

During an interview with the newspaper "Kommersant," President Putin provided details about his meeting on June 29 in the Kremlin with Prigozhin and the Wagner Group leaders.

Putin explained, "The Wagner Group members could have gathered in one place and continued their service. Nothing would have changed for them. They would have been placed under the command of a person who would be their actual leader during that period."

The newspaper added that the person proposed by Putin was a Wagner Group official known as "Seydoy" (the Old Man), who had effectively led Wagner Group operatives on the Ukrainian front in the past sixteen months.

Putin confirmed, "Many Wagner Group leaders nodded their heads in agreement when I suggested that. But Prigozhin, who was sitting in front of me, did not see it that way and said after listening, 'No, the young men do not agree to this solution.'"

Putin stated that during the June 29 meeting, he discussed "possible solutions" for the Wagner Group to continue fighting on behalf of Russia and provided his interpretation of the events on June 24.

In the interview with Kommersant, he also addressed the lack of official legal status for the Wagner Group in Russia, as Russian law does not allow for the existence of private armed groups.

Putin told the newspaper, "The Wagner Group exists, but it does not have a legal status! (...) This is another matter related to conferring legitimacy on its existence. This issue should be discussed in the State Duma and within the government."

The Wagner Group's rebellion shook the foundations of Russian power amid the conflict in Ukraine.

For several hours, Wagner fighters occupied a Russian army command center in the Rostov region in the southwest of the country and advanced hundreds of kilometers towards Moscow.

The rebellion ended on the evening of June 24 with an agreement that involved Prigozhin's transfer to Belarus, while his fighters were given the option to join the Russian army or transition to civilian life.



AFP