The movements and whereabouts of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner’s mercenaries, after the brief but fierce rebellion against Russian Defense Ministry leadership that he led on June 24 remains a mystery. Last Thursday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko assured that he was in Russia and not Belarus, as stipulated in the agreement reached with the Russian government. Moscow reported this Monday that days after the Kremlin uprising, Wagner’s boss held a three-hour meeting with 35 other participants with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This detail raises more questions than answers about the situation of the person known as Putin’s chef. This Monday, Russia’s highest-ranking general also reappeared for the first time since the uprising. Prigozhin had demanded his dismissal and that of the defense minister.
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According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the meeting took place on June 29, five days after the aborted uprising, which was seen as the biggest challenge for Putin since he took office on the last day of 1999. Much of this happened on June 24, the day of the riot, and how authorities are dealing with the aftermath remains unclear. One of the biggest mysteries is why Prigozhin has apparently not yet fulfilled the terms of the agreement that ended the confrontation, what his plans for the future and those of his fighters are, and why he has apparently not been punished by the Kremlin government. Putin called Wagner’s actions a treacherous “stab in the back” that could have pushed Russia into civil war.
Peskov detailed that Putin invited 35 people to the three-hour meeting, including Prigozhin and Wagner’s top politicians. “The only thing we can say is that the President gave his assessment of the actions of the company (Wagner) on the front lines during the special military operation (in Ukraine) and also his assessment of the events of June 24 (the day of the riots ) submitted. ‘ Peskov told reporters. According to the spokesman, Putin had listened to the commanders’ statements about the incidents themselves and offered them more employment and combat opportunities.
In the brief mutiny, Wagner’s fighters seized control of the city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border and shot down an unknown number of military helicopters and killed their pilots as they advanced toward Moscow. Peskov claimed that Wagner’s commanders reiterated their loyalty to Putin at the Kremlin meeting. “They (the commanders) stressed that they were staunch supporters and soldiers of the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief. They also said that they are ready to continue fighting for the Motherland,” Peskov said.
The uprising, which Putin had compared to the riots leading up to the 1917 Russian Revolution, was defused thanks to a deal brokered by Lukashenko. Since then, Putin and the Kremlin have been trying to convey a picture of normality.
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Reappearance of Valeri Gerasimov
As the Kremlin announced the meeting with Prigozhin this Monday, senior Russian General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, made his first public appearance since the mutiny. Video released Monday by the Defense Ministry, but apparently taken a day earlier, shows Gerasimov ordering his subordinates to destroy Ukrainian missile bases.
The images suggest that Putin kept his two most powerful soldiers, Defense Ministers Sergei Shoigu and Gerasimov, at their posts for the time being, despite Prigozhin demanding they be fired for alleged incompetence.
67-year-old Gerasimov sat in a military command center in a white leather armchair and chaired a meeting with senior generals. He asked for and then listened to a report from Viktor Afzalov, a deputy of General Sergei Surovikin’s Aerospace Forces. . Surovikin has not appeared in public since the uprising, due to unconfirmed reports that he has been arrested for questioning.
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