Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Nearly two years after Yevgeny Prigozhin died, an account has been published of a tense meeting with Vladimir Putin in which the Wagner Group leader rejected subordination to the Russian Ministry of Defence. "Zhenya, you're fucking nuts", Putin is said to have told him. ⬇️

2/ The Russian journalist and warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova, who was an outspoken supporter of the Wagner Group and is writing a book on its rise and fall, has described what happened when Putin and Prigozhin met on 29 June, five days after the Wagner rebellion was called off.

3/ According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, a three-hour gathering of 35 people including Putin and Prigozhin met at the Kremlin. The Wagnerites assured Putin that they would continue to fight for him in Ukraine.

4/ Peskov says that Putin "gave his assessment of the 24 June events,... listened to the commanders' explanations and offered options for their employment and combat roles".

5/ It hasn't been disclosed until now what these 'options' were. According to Kashevarova, they were an ultimatum to Wagner to subordinate itself to the Russian Ministry of Defence, given that the Russian government was already fully funding Wagner.

6/ Kashevarova writes: "They say that the head of state was twitching, he even swore, but his presentation was factual and literate. The President's monologue was harsh, like a man. I was even told that the President directly said [to Prigozhin]: 'Zhenya, you're fucking nuts.'"

7/ "At the meeting, the President cited the figures for the cash flow that went to Wagner. Wagner was supported by the state. The figures are large, but Prigozhin still created a combat-ready unit, even though he was withdrawing money.

8/ "For example, according to the documents, the death benefits were more than 5 million rubles, but that's how much they paid in the [Wagner Group], no one knew the [details of the] financial agreements.

9/ "In the conversation, Putin proposed the option of preserving Wagner, but the money would go through government agencies, that is, it would be visible, where and what was spent.

10/ "An option was proposed, according to which the [Chechen] Akhmat Spetsnaz is currently working – [as] a division of the Ministry of Defense, but with some subjectivity. All the commanders agreed, but Prigozhin said: "This does not suit us."

11/ Kashevarova says that this effectively sealed Wagner's fate, and that of Prigozhin himself. She suggests that he rejected Putin's option "because then he was losing power over Wagner, and therefore his figure was no longer so significant."

12/ "Yes, Yevgeny Viktorovich would have retained his business, but [with] no military power."

She compares Prigozhin to Torenaga, the central figure of James Clavell's 'Shogun' – "a military leader [who] wants to unite disunited Japan, and he does not need anything else."

13/ "This is what Prigozhin dreamed of. Defending the Motherland, his only goal was more power. He created the strongest army, first-class fighters. They had a code of honour. The whole story about business is not about them.

14/ "But his story is exactly about this - money, strength and power. Many have burned on this path, how many more will burn. But he managed to create a professional army, and then he ruined it himself." /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/akashevarova/8…
🔹 rferl.org/a/putin-prigoz…