President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia held a lengthy meeting with Yevgeny V. Prigozhin just five days after his Wagner private military company launched a brief mutiny, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said on Monday, noting that “further employment options” for the mercenary group were among the matters discussed.
It is the first known contact between the two men since Wagner’s uprising, which posed the most dramatic challenge to Mr. Putin’s authority in his more than two decades in power. But the Kremlin’s account of the meeting left a host of unanswered questions about the mercenary group’s future.
Mr. Putin invited 35 people to the three-hour meeting on June 29, including Mr. Prigozhin and all of Wagner’s top commanders, the Kremlin spokesman said. He did not specify where the meeting took place. The details of any agreements reached at the meeting remain unclear, and Mr. Prigozhin hasn’t said anything about it since the failed mutiny.
The confirmation of a face-to-face meeting with Putin, who has branded Prigozhin as a backstabbing traitor, adds a new twist to the uncertainty surrounding the mercenary chief. His fate and whereabouts have been unknown since the abortive mutiny, which severely weakened Putin’s authority.
Also Monday, Russia’s Defense Ministry published a video featuring the country’s military chief — the first time Gen. Valery Gerasimov was shown since the rebelling aimed to oust him.
During last month’s revolt, Prigozhin repeatedly denounced Gerasimov, who serves as chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for failing to provide his fighters in Ukraine with ammunition.
