Offered Wagner mercenaries the option to stay as a single unit:Putin

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander when he met with them after the group’s brief revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23- year rule.

Putin’s comments, published Friday, appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries, some of the most capable Russian forces in Ukraine, while the fate of their chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, remains unclear.

They also came amid new cracks appearing in the Russian military as the war grinds through its 17th month and Ukraine conducts a counteroffensive against the invading forces. In remarks to the business daily Kommersant, Putin for the first time described a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders  including Prigozhin, on June 29, five days after their armed rebellion.

He said he praised their efforts in Ukraine, deplored their involvement in the mutiny — which he previously denounced as an act of treason — and offered them alternatives for future service.

Putin told Kommersant that one option would see Wagner keep the same commander who goes by the call name “Gray Hair” and has led the private army in Ukraine for 16 months.

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

Putin said many Wagner troops nodded in approval at the proposal, but 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 didn’t mention where and in what numbers Wagner could be deployed under his offer, or say what proposal the forces eventually accepted, if any.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to elaborate on Wagner’s future in Friday’s conference call with reporters. Putin has previously said Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus or retire from service.

Speaking to Kommersant, Putin emphasized that “rank-and-file soldiers of Wagner have fought honorably” in Ukraine, adding that “it’s a cause for regret that they were drawn” into the mutiny.

Putin’s remarks came in an interview with a Kommersant reporter who has special access to the president. (AP)