- A former US military leader has said that the head of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is either in jail or dead.
- Some reports suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Prigozhin after the coup.
- Prigozhin’s forces quickly seized control of a military base in southern Russia, in the city of Rostov-on-Don.
- It was revealed that Putin held a meeting with Prigozhin five days after the revolt.
- Putin says Wagner boss refused his offer during Kremlin meeting after mutiny.
A former US military leader has said that the head of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is either in jail or dead. Retired General Robert Abrams, whilst speaking to a news channel, said that “My personal assessment is that I doubt we’ll see Prigozhin ever again publicly. I think he’ll either be put in hiding, or sent to prison, or dealt with some other way, but I doubt we’ll ever see him again”.
Recently, some reports suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Prigozhin after the coup.
On June 23, 2023, Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, announced that he was marching to Moscow to challenge Russia’s military leadership. Prigozhin accused them of mismanaging the war in Ukraine.
Prigozhin’s forces quickly seized control of a military base in southern Russia, in the city of Rostov-on-Don. However, the coup quickly unraveled after Prigozhin suddenly decided that he won’t be marching to Russia. He changed his mind to avoid bloodshed apparently.
The coup attempt was a major setback for Prigozhin. He had been a close ally of Putin for many years, and he had been rewarded with lucrative government contracts. However, the coup attempt showed that Prigozhin had overstepped his bounds. Putin was furious with Prigozhin, and called him a traitor”.
It was revealed just this week that Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin five days after he led an abortive revolt against Russia’s military hierarchy. Mr. Putin, interviewed by a Russian daily said he made several offers during the meeting – including giving the fighters the opportunity to remain serving together. Under the offer, the fighters would stay under their current commander, who the newspaper identified only by his call sign of “Grey Hair”, but understood to be Andrei “Sedoy” Trochev.
As Mr. Putin is the army’s commander-in-chief, he seemed to be implying that they would remain within the Russian military, although he did not say that explicitly. However, Prigozhin disagreed.
“Wagner does not exist,” the Russian president told the media “There is no law on private military organizations. It just doesn’t exist.” It comes after a Pentagon spokesperson said they believed Wagner forces were no longer “participating in any significant capacity” to the war in Ukraine.
Analysts have said such a development would harm Russia’s efforts in the conflict, given the mercenary fighters’ effectiveness compared to that of the country’s conventional armed forces.
(With inputs from media)
