The French newspaper Liberation wrote that on July 1 Prigozhin met with Putin, the head of the Russian Guard Viktor Zolotov and the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin.
Putinʼs spokesman Dmytro Peskov officially confirmed this, but noted that it was on June 29.
According to him, Russian President Putin held a meeting with the owner of the PMC "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders after the rebellion. The meeting, which lasted three hours, was attended by 35 participants, among them the commanders of detachments and the leadership of the PMC.
Peskov stated that Putin assessed the actions of the "Wagnerians" during the full-scale war, listened to the explanations of the commanders and offered them "further employment options.”
- On the evening of June 23, the founder of the Russian PMC "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military of having struck the rear camp of mercenaries, "a huge number of fighters died." The command for the destruction of the PMC "Wagner" was allegedly given by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov after a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Prigozhin informed the beginning of the "march of justice", took control of Rostovʼs military facilities, including the airfield, and the "Wagnerians" began to move towards Moscow.
- On the evening of June 24, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko agreed with Prigozhin "about the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloody massacre on the territory of Russia." Then Prigozhin stated that they were disbanding the columns and returning to the field camps. After that, it became known that Prigozhin would go to Belarus (Ukraine was assured that there was no threat of an attack by the "Wagnerians" from the north).
- On June 26, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that he started the rebellion in Russia because the local authorities wanted to liquidate the PMC from July 1 and transfer the fighters under the authority of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
- According to CNN, US intelligence officials believe that Prigozhin had long planned to mount a serious challenge to the Russian military leadership, but what his ultimate goal was is unknown. Presumably, Prigozhin also informed about his plans to the Deputy Commander of the Russian Armed Forces Serhiy Surovikin, which was previously reported by The New York Times.
- Earlier, The Wall Street Journal newspaper wrote that the Russian authorities want to take control of the activities of the PMC "Wagner" mercenaries abroad. The authorities of Syria and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation conducted a special operation, subordinating the "Wagnerians" to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Meanwhile, hundreds of mercenaries of the PMC "Wagner" flew out of the CAR. The local government says itʼs a rotation.