Russia: Putin Meets Former Wagner Commander

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Andrei Troshev, a Former Top Wagner Mercenary Commander, to discuss how voluntary fighting units are used in the Ukraine war, the Kremlin has said on Friday.

The meeting underscored the Kremlin’s attempt to show that the State had now gained control over the mercenary group after a failed June mutiny by Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash in August.

Just days after the Wagner’s mutiny, Putin offered the mercenaries the opportunity to keep fighting but suggested that commander Andrei Troshev take over from Prigozhin, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper has reported.

The Kremlin said that Putin had met with Troshev, who is known by his nom de guerre “Sedoi” or “grey hair”, and Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who sat closest to Putin.

Addressing Troshev, Putin said that they had spoken about how “volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of a special military operation.”

“You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year.

You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way,” Putin said.

Putin also said that he wanted to speak about social support for those involved in the fighting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA news agency that Troshev worked at the Defence Ministry. “He now works in the Defence  Ministry.”

Troshev is from St Petersburg, Putin’s home town, and has been pictured with the President.

REUTERS