President Vladimir Putin met the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, at the Kremlin on June 29, five days after his aborted uprising, the Russian presidency announced Monday.
The meeting lasted “nearly three hours,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, specifying that nearly 35 people took part, including “all commanders and leaders” of the Wagner group.
Putin formulated his “assessment” of the activities of the Wagner group on the Ukrainian front and the June 24 mutiny, when Prigozhin set out to overthrow the Russian military leadership.
The Russian president “listened to (Wagner’s) commanders’ explanations and suggested alternatives” for the future, the spokesman added.
“The commanders (of Wagner) gave their version of the facts. They reiterated their unconditional supporters and soldiers of the head of state and commander-in-chief (Vladimir Putin) and said they were ready to continue fighting for the fatherland,” he added.
At the moment it is not known where the leader of the Wagner Group is, initially it was said that he was in exile in Belarus, but the country’s leader Alexander Lukasehnko denies this and confirms that his position in St. Petersburg (Russia) is. They claim to have controlled their movements from NATO, but do not disclose their whereabouts, according to international media. It is also possible that the leader of the Wagner group is in some of the group’s bases in Libya or Mali.
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On the other hand, the Chief of the Russian General Staff and commander of military operations in Ukraine, Valeri Gerasimov, made his first public appearance since Wagner’s failed uprising, targeting him personally.
In a video released by the Russian ministry on Monday, he can be seen chairing a meeting briefing him about an attempt by the Ukrainian military to fire rockets into Russia and Crimea on Sunday.
At the meeting, the date of which is unknown, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Victor Afzalov, said three Ukrainian S-200 missiles had been shot down by anti-aircraft fire, with no casualties or damage. .
Gerasimov, along with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, was the direct target of the lightning uprising led by Prigozhin.
Since that failed mutiny, rumors have circulated of reshuffles within the military command, particularly of General Sergei Surovikin, an old ally of Wagner.
Footage from the meeting did not include Surovikin, who remains official commander of the aerospace forces and one of Gerasimov’s deputies for operations in Ukraine.
Source: Eluniverso

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