Putin Says He Offered Wagner Troops The Option To Serve As A Single Unit

According to an interview published by a Russian newspaper on Friday, July 14, 2023, President Vladimir Putin disclosed that he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit when he met with them five days after the group’s short lived mutiny last month.

Putin disclosed that he met 35 Wagner commanders, including the group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29, 2023.

He divulged that he talked to them about their actions in Ukraine, their mutiny — which he denounced as an act of treason.

Putin revealed that he offered the 35 Wagner commanders multiple employment options, including one to serve as a single unit under the leadership of their direct commander, who goes by the call sign Sedoy [Grey hair]; a man who has led the military company’s operations in Ukraine for the past 16 months.

 “All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve. And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all along.”

Vladimir Putin

Putin said that many Wagner commanders nodded when he made his proposal. However, Prigozhin, who was sitting in front and didn’t see their reaction, quickly rejected the idea, responding that “the boys won’t agree with such a decision.”

Putin did not say what proposal Wagner commanders eventually accepted, if any.

The Russian President has previously said that Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus or retire from service.

“It Simply Doesn’t Exist”

Additionally, Putin noted that Wagner has operated without legal basis.

“There is no law on private military organizations. It simply doesn’t exist,” he told the Russian newspaper, adding that the government and the parliament have yet to discuss the issue of private military contractors.

Also, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the status of companies such as Wagner was “rather complicated” and needed to be studied.

When asked if new legislation was likely on the status of private military companies, he said: “This question will at least be under consideration.”

While the fate of Prigozhin and the terms of the agreement remain cloudy, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Wagner was completing the handover of its weapons to the Russian military.

Their disarming of Wagner reflects efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat they posed, and also appears to herald an end to the mercenary group’s operations on the battlefield in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are engaged in a counteroffensive.

Among the weapons turned over were more than 2,000 pieces of equipment, such as tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and air defense systems, along with over 2,500 metric tons of munitions and more than 20,000 firearms, the Defense Ministry said.

Wagner fighters played a key role in the Russian army’s advance into eastern Ukraine and were the driving force in the capture of the city of Bakhmut in May, after months of battles.

During the revolt that lasted less than 24 hours on June 23 and 24, 2023, Prigozhin’s mercenaries quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before driving to within about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of Moscow. 

Prigozhin called his mercenaries back to their camps after striking a deal to end the rebellion in exchange for an amnesty for him and his mercenaries, and permission to move to Belarus.

Prigozhin’s whereabouts are currently unknown. As at last week, his forces had yet to take up the offer of decamping to Belarus.

READ ALSO: Putin Claims Supply Of Weapons To Ukraine Will Not Change The Course Of Ongoing War