Kremlin says mercenary chief Prigozhin met Putin after rebellion

MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 29, five days after the group

marched towards Moscow in a short-lived rebellion.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Mr Putin invited 35 people to the meeting, including unit commanders, and that it lasted three hours. The Wagner commanders told Mr Putin they were his soldiers and would continue to fight for him, Mr Peskov said.

The brief mutiny

led by Prigozhin,

in which Wagner fighters took control of the southern city of Rostov, confronted Mr Putin with the gravest challenge to his hold on power since taking over as Russia’s paramount leader on the last day of 1999.

It was defused in a deal brokered by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. Mr Putin has since thanked his army and security services for averting chaos and civil war.

Prigozhin has said the mutiny was not aimed at overthrowing the government but at “bringing to justice” the army and defence chiefs for what he called their blunders and unprofessional actions in Ukraine.

Prigozhin was meant to leave for Belarus under the terms of

the deal but Mr Lukashenko said last week that

he was back in Russia and that Wagner fighters had not yet taken up an offer to relocate to Belarus, raising questions about the implementation of the agreement. REUTERS