Wagner Leader Met With Putin Days After Revolt

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his lieutenants met with Russian President Vladimir Putin days after the group’s short-lived revolt against Moscow, according to the Kremlin, a sign that the paramilitary chief and his forces remain important players in Russian security and politics.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the men discussed Wagner’s aborted June mutiny as well as fighting in Ukraine. Peskov said Wagner unit commanders pledged fealty, saying “they are staunch supporters” of Putin and “are ready to continue fighting for the motherland.” 

Monday’s announcement marked a sharp turn from Putin’s initial public condemnation of Prigozhin and his backers as treasonous rebels and signaled a new phase in Russia’s internal political maneuvering as the country’s ruling elite contends with mounting losses in Ukraine.

The Wagner Group didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the meeting. Prigozhin hasn’t been seen in public in the more than two weeks since his abandoned revolt. 

Prigozhin and his private military company have played an important role in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, earlier this year capturing the small eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a rare recent Russian gain after one of the longest and bloodiest engagements of the war. Top Ukrainian officials have praised Wagner fighters as more disciplined and resilient than Russia’s regular army.

But Prigozhin has also been an increasingly strident critic of Russian military commanders and their conduct of the war, and his armed march on Moscow, in a column complete with tanks and artillery, was the biggest challenge to Putin in the Russian leader’s 23 years in power.

“Putin really needs Wagner because his fate is being decided on the battlefield and there he has serious problems,” said Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin aide who is now a critic. “At the same time, Prigozhin has interest in regime survival because he likely won’t survive if Putin falls.”

The Wagner leader’s public statements lambasting the military and government officials have made him unpopular among some in the country’s ruling elite.  

Putin has sought to project his authority in the wake of the Wagner mutiny and the Kremlin has sought to discredit Prigozhin, who is popular among ordinary Russians, by, among other things, having state TV show video from inside the mercenary leader’s opulent St. Petersburg mansion. 

At the same time, it has apparently allowed Prigozhin to return to Russia after a brief exile in neighboring Belarus, and let him sit down for a lengthy, three-hour talk with Putin on June 29, in which he and Wagner leaders explained the rationale for their revolt.

That same day, Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, when asked about the paramilitary leader’s whereabouts, said he didn’t know where he was.

“The fact that Putin has to engage in negotiations with Prigozhin and soften his position really is a sign of weakness,” said Mark Galeotti,

In addition to Wagner’s contribution on the front lines of the conflict, the group has also played a significant role in the Middle East and Africa, expanding Moscow’s influence by shoring up authoritarian leaders there and securing access to valuable resources.

Prigozhin ultimately called off his advance on Moscow in a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Wagner leader and his men were guaranteed safe passage to Belarus in an agreement said to have Putin’s blessing.

On Thursday, Lukashenko said Prigozhin was already back in Russia after a brief exile in Belarus. In response, last week Peskov said that the Kremlin wasn’t following the paramilitary leader’s movements. 

“We have neither the ability nor the desire” to do so, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted him as saying.

On Monday, Peskov didn’t offer any comments on Prigozhin’s current location or give an assessment of Wagner’s future role.

When he launched his rebellion, Prigozhin said he was seeking the removal of Russia’s military command, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry posted a video it said was dated Sunday that showed Gerasimov sitting in a military command center receiving reports about the situation in Ukraine, the first footage of him since the rebellion. Days after the insurrection, Shoigu was seen in a video published by the ministry.

The appearance of the two men was suggestive of Putin’s determination to show that he hasn’t yielded to Prigozhin’s demands and was still in charge of decisions on who should lead his army.

“They showed Gerasimov today to demonstrate that they are not caving to Prigozhin’s demands, to compensate for the revelation that Putin met Prigozhin,” Gallyamov said.

Still, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the head of Russia’s air force, hasn’t been seen in public since the mutiny. He was last seen in a video released on June 23, looking distressed and clutching a rifle with his right hand as he pleaded with Prigozhin and his fighters to call off the proposed rebellion.

Western intelligence agencies have specifically mentioned Surovikin as a potential backer of Prigozhin’s rebellion. 

Since the aborted uprising, some local Russian media have claimed sightings of Prigozhin in Russia, including in St. Petersburg. Russian state media, meanwhile, have published videos and pictures purported to be of Prigozhin’s residence and offices in an apparent drive to discredit him and expose a life lived in luxury.

Images allegedly taken inside the Wagner leader’s home also showed weapons, colored wigs—apparent disguises—and passports, some with Prigozhin’s photo but under different names; others with his name but different photos.

Write to Matthew Luxmoore at [email protected], Ann M. Simmons at [email protected] and Georgi Kantchev at [email protected]