‘Wagner state funds’: Putin
Putin attends a meeting with military officials in the Kremlin
(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech to military officials responding to last weekend’s mutiny by the private military company Wagner that the Defense Ministry had “fully funded” Wagner. Putin said the government paid Wagner some 86 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) in “maintenance costs and incentives” between May 2022 and May this year alone. Putin also claimed that another company, Concorde, run by Wagner founder Evgeny Prigozhin, received 80 billion rubles from the government. “We’ll take care of that,” Putin said, referring to the huge sums spent on Wagner, “but I hope nobody gets anything.” It was not immediately clear if Putin hinted at an investigation into how the money was spent. “As for Wagner, we have always treated our fighters and commanders with great respect, because they have truly shown courage and bravery. Soldiers and officers of the Russian army, as well as volunteers, Wagner “fought with no less devotion, showing courage. and selflessness. Wagner’s fighters were respected at home.” Putin also said that he wanted to express his “thanks” to the military officers, adding that “unfortunately they had to deal with a rather difficult situation” in the mutiny.
