Wladimir Putin
The president tells the newspaper that he met the mercenary chief to negotiate terms for the fighters’ continued involvement in the Ukraine war
Fri 14 Jul 2023 5.58pm BST
Vladimir Putin said he tried to replace Yevgeny Prigozhin as the leader of Wagner’s fighters in Ukraine, but failed after the mercenary chief rejected his proposal at a meeting in the Kremlin this month.
Putin’s version of events, which appeared in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, was a surprising admission that the Russian president was still negotiating a takeover of the Wagner mercenary group.
Analysts suspect that last month’s short-lived Wagner uprising exposed Putin’s weakness and inability to manage the conflicts between the various powers that be in his regime.
On Friday, footage from the Belarusian state media showed that Wagner trainers had arrived in Belarus as part of an exile agreement concluded with the Kremlin after the aborted mutiny.
Putin told columnist Andrei Kolesnikov that he met Prigozhin and 35 Wagner commanders in the Kremlin after the mutiny and tried to negotiate terms for the mercenary group’s continued involvement in the Russian war in Ukraine.
Footage broadcast by Belarusian state media purportedly shows Wagner fighters training soldiers in Belarus. Photo: Voen TV/Belarusian Defense Ministry/Portal
During the meeting, Putin said he offered Prigozhin the option of allowing Wagner fighters to continue serving in Ukraine under the leadership of their battlefield commander, Andrey Trochev.
“They could all gather in one place and continue to serve,” Putin told Kolesnikov, who has reported on the Kremlin leader for several decades. “And nothing would change for her. They would be led by the same person who had been their actual commander all along.”
The offer met with some support from Wagner commanders, Putin said. “A lot of them nodded when I said that. But Prigozhin, who sat in front of them and did not see it [their reaction]He said, ‘No, the boys will not agree with this decision.'”
The interview appears to be part of a broader Kremlin effort to win the loyalty of the Wagner base, even as it seeks to discredit Prigozhin by leaking sensitive and embarrassing information about him.
During the interview, Putin also said Wagner does not exist, citing Russian legislation that bans private military companies and calls their future into question.
Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at Rand, a US think tank specializing in Russian military strategy, said Putin’s version of events signals he could ostracize Wagner at any time while he tries to drive a wedge between Prigozhin and his militants.
“He signals: ‘I will separate Prigozhin from this tool, from Wagner and the Wagner fighters that I still need,'” she said. “I still need this tool. I don’t need the man that much.”
Still, it came as a surprise to Putin to make public the failed negotiations with Prigozhin, even as he sought to regain his role as the “godfather” of various power interests in Russia.
“I don’t think it makes him look as strong as he thinks it does,” said Massicot, who described the alleged post-riot meeting as “theater”. “This is messy.”
Abbas Gallyamov, a political adviser and a former speechwriter to Putin, said the fact that the two met “showed that Putin was ready to normalize relations with Prigozhin.”
“Both sides still need each other,” Gallyamov said, but added that Putin’s remarks to Kommersant and the media campaign against Prigozhin indicated that the two sides had “not found common ground.”
Kremlin-controlled TV stations continued to broadcast news reports detailing Prigozhin’s business interests and alleging that he had been both ineffective and corrupt. The Russian military claimed it had recovered equipment, including some it said was unused, although Prigozhin complained that its fighters were systematically undersupplied.
Embarrassing photos of Prigozhin were also leaked to pro-war Telegram channels after raids on his apartment and Wagner’s offices. Some showed him in disguise, with fake beards and hairpieces, ridiculing the mercenary chief.
On Friday, a leaked image showed Prigozhin sitting in his underwear on a bunk in a field tent decorated with a Wagner badge. The date of the picture could not be immediately confirmed and it was not known if Prigozhin was in Belarus.
On the same day, Belarusian state television also claimed that the first Wagner fighters arrived at a military camp set up in the village of Asipovichi. The mercenaries were filmed training local defense forces in weapons and tactics, marking the first alleged sighting of Wagner fighters in Belarus since the uprising. The Belarusian Defense Ministry said Wagner fighters “served as instructors in a number of military disciplines.”
Putin vs. Prigozhin: Is Wagner Too Valuable To Destroy? – Podcasts
The US said Wagner was largely incapacitated in Ukraine, a trend that began after the group announced a withdrawal in May after key fighting over the town of Bakhmut.
On Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said, “At this time, we do not see any significant involvement of Wagner forces in support of combat operations in Ukraine.”
But Ryder added that the majority of Wagner’s fighters remained in Russian-held Ukraine, where they were stationed before the uprising.
In addition to Prigozhin’s lucrative operations in Africa, his Concord Group’s contracts to supply other Russian military bases abroad could be a valuable asset to the Kremlin if they could be removed from its control.
Galyamov said: “If Putin and Prigozhin put their emotions aside, rationally both players would rather make peace so that Russia could deploy Wagner’s troops in Ukraine.” Both sides need each other. For Putin, the war in Ukraine is the higher goal, while Prigozhin knows his position is very shaky without the president.”
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