PRIGOZHIN REJECTED HIS OFFER FOR WAGNER TO KEEP SERVING, PUTIN SAYS

Fri 14 July 2023:

Days after their failed mutiny, Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly gave the Wagner mercenaries the chance to continue fighting for the army in a meeting, but the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin refused his offer.

Interviewed by the Russian daily Kommersant on Thursday, Putin said his offer was one of several he made at a meeting with approximately three dozen Wagner fighters and their founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, five days after Wagner forces staged a short-lived revolt last month.

Under Putin’s offer, the mercenary force could remain serving under their current commander, who the newspaper identified only by his call sign of “Grey Hair”.

The Russian leader said many people nodded when they heard his offer at the Kremlin meeting on June 29. “But Prigozhin, who was sitting in front of them and did not see this, said, after listening-no, the guys do not agree with this decision,” he added.

Kommersant said Putin spoke of meeting 35 Wagner fighters and Prigozhin in the Kremlin and offering them options for the future, including remaining under their commander of 16 months.

“All of them could have gathered in one place and continued their service,” Kommersant quoted Putin as saying.

“And nothing would have changed. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all that time.”

As Putin is the army’s commander-in-chief, he seemed to be implying that the mercenary force would remain within the Russian military, although he did not say that explicitly.

“Many of them nodded when I said this,” Kommersant quoted Putin as saying.

However, Prigozhin disagreed, it reported.

“Prigozhin … said after listening: ‘No, the boys won’t agree with such a decision,’” Kommersant quoted Putin as saying.

Putin also indirectly admitted to Kommersant that the Russian leadership had been relying on a private military organisation that operated beyond the scope of Russian law.

He told the newspaper there was no possibility of Wagner remaining in its current form.

“Wagner does not exist,” Putin told Kommersant. “There is no law on private military organisations. It just doesn’t exist.”

Asked what really happened on June 24, when Prigozhin announced his intention to overthrow Russia’s military chiefs, Putin said “the rank-and-file fighters of Wagner … were drawn in these events.”

He further said: “On the one hand, at a meeting with them, I gave an assessment of what they did on the battlefield, and on the other hand, what they did during the events of June 24. Third, showed possible options for further service, including in the war zone. That’s all.”

As for the group, there is no such a legal entity as the Wagner private military company and there is no legal basis for creating it.

“The group exists, but legally does not exist. This is a separate issue related to real legalization. But this is an issue that should be discussed in the State Duma, in the government. A difficult question,” Putin said.

Wagner Mutiny

Wagner fighters played a key role in the Russian army’s advance into eastern Ukraine and were the driving force in the capture of the city of Bakhmut in May, after months of battles.

But Prigozhin constantly accused Russia’s military chiefs of failing to back his men and of even cutting his allocation of artillery shells and other munitions at key times in the battle for Bakhmut.

After months of verbal attacks on the military hierarchy, Wagner fighters crossed from Ukraine into Russia and took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 24 as other units made a dash towards Moscow.

But the Wagner mutiny ended as abruptly as it started, when Prigozhin, only 24 hours into the mutiny, announced that his forces had halted their advance after being offered a deal under which they could resettle in Belarus, and criminal charges against them would not be pursued.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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