Last Updated: July 13, 2023, 15:51 IST
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin (Image: Reuters file)
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov has maintained that Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders met Vladimir Putin and pledged loyalty to the government
Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is likely dead or jailed and his publicized meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin following the mercenary group’s short-lived mutiny was probably fake, a former US military commander has claimed.
Retired General Robert Abrams, who served as the commander of US Forces Korea, told ABC News that Prigozhin will no longer be seen in public as he has been dealt in some way.
“My personal assessment is that I doubt we’ll see Prigozhin ever again publicly,” Abrams told ABC News.
“I think he’ll either be put in hiding, or sent to prison, or dealt with some other way, but I doubt we’ll ever see him again,” he added.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders met Vladimir Putin and pledged loyalty to the government.
The three-hour meeting took place June 29 and involved not only Prigozhin but commanders from his Wagner Group military contractor, the Kremlin spokesman said.
When Abrams was asked if Prigozhin was alive after posing the most significant challenge to Putin’s regime, he said, “I personally don’t think he is, and if he is, he’s in a prison somewhere.”
Putin’s face-to-face meeting with Prigozhin, who led troops on a march to Moscow last month to demand a military leadership change, comes as the Russian leader had branded Prigozhin a traitor and vowed harsh punishment. Prigozhin led Wagner Group, which played a key role in the Ukraine offensive, sought to topple Russia’s military leadership during the brief rebellion, before backing down.
However, the criminal case against the mercenary chief on rebellion charges was later dropped.
The whereabouts of Yevgeny Prigozhin are largely unknown after the alleged agreement with the Kremlin.
Days after the revolt, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Prigozhin was in Belarus. But last week the president said the mercenary chief was in Russia while his troops remained in their camps.
Russia announced Wednesday that its army had received more than 2,000 pieces of military hardware, including tanks, from Wagner Group.
