Russian President Vladimir Putin took steps to discredit and undermine Yevgeny Prigozhin after the short-lived Wagner Group insurrection over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
After Prigozhin’s mercenaries marched toward Moscow and then retreated, Putin responded quickly by attempting to control the assets and reach of the military group, the newspaper reported.
Putin sent a deputy foreign minister to Syria to personally deliver a message to President Bashar al-Assad. He was told the Wagner Group would no longer operate independently of Russia, the newspaper reported.
Putin pushed forward on two other fronts. Senior Russian foreign ministry officials phoned the president of the Central African Republic with assurances Russia would not be derailed in its efforts to expand into Africa. Also, government jets from Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations shuttled from Syria to Mali, another of Wagner’s outposts, the newspaper reported.
Putin admitted over the weekend that Russia had paid Wagner more than $1 billion for its services, including troops to fight in Ukraine. He denied working with Wagner for years.
Prigozhin was given the chance to go to Belarus after the failed attempt, Putin said. Other members of his group were offered new contracts to join the Russian army or go home. Putin initially called them traitors.
“Wagner helped Russia build its influence, and the government is loath to give it up,” J. Peter Pham, former special envoy for the West African Sahel region, told the newspaper. “Wagner gave the state deniability. The question is whether they can manage its complexity and deal with additional scrutiny.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Russian Gen. Sergei Surovikin knew of Prigozhin’s plans ahead of time. Russia denied the claim on Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov described it as “speculations” and “gossip.”
The Times also reported that Putin flew to the southern Russian region of Dagestan on Wednesday to discuss domestic tourism. He did not mention the uprising, the newspaper reported.
The U.S. condemned on Wednesday a Russian missile strike on a popular restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. At least 10 were killed.
“This is another example of Russia’s continuing escalation and the sheer brutality of its war of aggression in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman Vedant Patel said.
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