Ukraine's military intelligence director Kyrylo Budanov told the Financial Times there was “not the slightest evidence” of the death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Director of Ukrainian Military Intelligence Kyrylo Boudanov talks about the future of the Wagner Group after the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Speaking to the Financial Times, he reiterated that “Wagner exists” even though several of his executives died in a plane crash in August. A few weeks earlier, the Russian paramilitary group had led a mutiny against the state summit.
For several hours, Wagner's fighters occupied a Russian army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and marched several hundred kilometers towards Moscow.
Wagner members are spread across different units
The group had called off its coup after 24 hours and appeared to have escaped the wrath of the presidency thanks to an agreement that saw its leader, Yevgeny Prigoyine, travel to Belarus. After this coup attempt, Vladimir Putin assured that Wagner's fighters could return home, join the regular army or go to Belarus.
“Many” Wagner Group members joined the Russian National Guard, a security organization under Putin’s authority, in October 2023, and others joined another Russian paramilitary group, according to British military intelligence. Still others have received veteran status, according to the same source.
In an October memo, the British Ministry of Defense estimated that “following the mutiny in July 2023 and the deaths of Wagner executives in August 2023, the Russian state now exercises more direct control over the activities and former personnel of the Wagner Group.”
Prigozhin's death in doubt
Regarding Prigozhin's death, “I wouldn't draw such quick conclusions,” Kyrylo Boudanov told the Financial Times. The head of the paramilitary group Wagner died on August 23 when his private jet carrying him and some of his lieutenants from Moscow to Saint Petersburg crashed.
Ukraine and the West Suspicion of Kremlin revenge, a thesis that Moscow rejects, but does not question the accuracy of the Wagner leader's death. “I don’t fully know what happened yet, but I’m not surprised” by Prigozhin’s death, Joe Biden told reporters in August.
“Few things happen in Russia without Putin having something to do with it,” the American president added.
“We may have reasonable doubts about the circumstances of Prigojine’s death,” said Olivier Véran, the government spokesman at the time. “I’m not saying he’s not dead or that he’s dead,” military intelligence chief Kyrylo Boudanov said in the article published Sunday. “I say there is not the slightest evidence that he is dead,” he added.