Is Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin dead? Since launching a failed rebellion against the leadership in Moscow last month, there has been speculation about the whereabouts of Russian private mercenary Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, with a former US official claiming that he is likely dead or incarcerated.
According to retired US general Robert Abrams, the meeting held on June 29 and confirmed by the Kremlin a few days ago was a hoax.
While speaking with ABC News about a variety of issues, including the NATO summit and the Ukrainian conflict, he also discussed Wagner’s mutiny last month.
Also read: Where are Russia’s top generals after Wagner Mutiny?
“My personal assessment is that I doubt we’ll see Prigozhin ever again publicly,” Abram told ABC News.
“I think he’ll either be put in hiding, sent to prison, or dealt with some other way, but I doubt we’ll ever see him again.”
He also responded to the question about the billionaire boss being alive, the retired four-star general said: “I personally don’t think he is, and if he is, he’s in a prison somewhere.”
“I’d be surprised if we actually see proof of life that Putin met with Prigozhin, and I think it’s highly staged,” Abrams said referring to the meeting that Dmitry Peskov confirmed days ago.
Is Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin dead?
Russian government spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday Prigozhin and his companions met with President Vladimir Putin who invited 35 people to the meeting which lasted for three hours.
“The only thing we can say is that the president gave his assessment of the company’s [Wagner’s] actions at the front during the Special Military Operation [in Ukraine] and also gave his assessment of the events of 24 June [the day of the mutiny],” Peskov told reporters.
He said Putin had listened to the commanders’ own explanations of what had happened and had offered them further options for employment and combat.
“The commanders outlined their version of what happened [on June 24]. They emphasized that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the supreme commander-in-chief. They also said that they are ready to continue fighting for the Motherland,” said Peskov.
According to appearances on state television by both men, Putin has so far kept Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in place, rejecting Prigozhin’s calls to fire them.
Under the terms of the agreement that ended the mutiny, Prigozhin was supposed to leave for Belarus. However, Lukashenko stated last week that Prigozhin had returned to Russia and that Wagner fighters had not yet accepted an offer to relocate to Belarus, raising concerns about the agreement’s implementation.
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said “Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt put a target on the Russian’s back.”
“I wouldn’t insure his life … Prigozhin clearly took a chance. If you’re going to take on the king, don’t do it with a Nerf bat. He did. It failed,” Pompeo said on WABC 770 AM radio’s “Cats Roundtable” show.
