Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have offered Wagner’s men to serve under someone else’s formal command, but their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, declined the offer after his failed mutiny.
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In an interview with Russia’s Kommersant newspaper published Thursday evening, the Russian president gave details of his June 29 meeting in the Kremlin with Mr. Prigogne and the leaders of the Wagner Group.
Wagner’s soldiers could unite in one place and continue to serve. For them, nothing would have changed, they could have been led by the person who was their real leader during this entire period, ”Putin said.
Kommersant specifies that the person named by the Russian president is a Wagner commander with the pseudonym “Sedoï” (gray hair) who, according to Mr. Putin, has already commanded paramilitaries on the Ukrainian front for the past 16 months.
“Many (Wagner commanders) nodded their heads when I said that. But (Evgeny) Prigozhin, who was sitting in the front, didn’t see him and said after listening, ‘No, the guys don’t agree with this solution,’” Putin asserted.
Mr. Putin claimed that during this meeting, on June 29, he discussed “possible solutions” so that the Wagner Group would continue to fight for Russia and show his “appreciation” for the events of June 24.
In his interview with Kommersant, he also spoke about the lack of an official legal status for the Wagner Group in Russia, as PMCs are not allowed by law.
“The (Wagner) group exists, but it does not exist legally! (…) This is another question regarding effective legislation (them). A question that should be asked in the Duma (lower house of parliament), within the government,” said Mr. Putin.
Wagner’s rebellion shook Russian power, in the midst of conflict in Ukraine.
The fighters of this group for several hours occupied the headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov-on-Don (southwest) and traveled several hundred kilometers towards Moscow.
The rebellion ended on the evening of June 24 with an agreement that Mr. Prigozhin would leave for Belarus, while his fighters could join him there, join the regular Russian army, or return to civilian life.
