Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that President Putin met with 35 Wagner leaders, which included chief Yevgeny Prigozhin himself as well as commanders and management, several days after the group’s failed coup attempt. According to him, “Putin listened to explanations from [Wagner] commanders and offered them further options for employment and further use in combat”, while they reaffirmed their loyalty “and also said that they are ready to continue fighting for the Fatherland.”
This development is bound to be spun by those conspiracy theorists in the Alt-Media Community (AMC) who clownishly claim that President Putin cooked up a so-called “false flag coup” with Prigozhin, which implies that he ordered the latter to shoot down the pilots who were killed on that fateful day. That’s why it’s so crucial to calmly interpret the importance of those two’s now-confirmed meeting in the days after that event so that well-intended but naive folks aren’t misled by any disinformation about it.
There’s nothing conspiratorial about President Putin meeting with Wagner leaders after the failed coup. The Russian leader already described the vast majority of that group’s members as true Russian patriots in his public statements about them. While Prigozhin was the West’s “useful idiot”, that doesn’t mean that those who were manipulated by his anti-corruption slogans into marching on Moscow were guilty of this too. To the contrary, it can be argued that they were actually victims of their chief’s egomania.
If President Putin truly felt that they were all “useful idiots” of his country’s existential enemies, then he wouldn’t have mercifully given Prigozhin a final chance to save his and his fighters’ lives. Likewise, the Russian leader also wouldn’t have offered the latter the chance to continue serving their country afterwards in other ways, go back home to their families, or go into exile in Belarus. Just because he averted civil war and stopped Prigozhin’s coup attempt doesn’t mean that everything was “maskirovka”.
With this perspective in mind, which stands up to scrutiny and has been vindicated by subsequent developments, it actually makes perfect sense why President Putin would meet with Wagner leaders after the failed coup. He not only considers the vast majority of that group’s members to be true Russian patriots, but he also keenly understands how they advance his country’s national security interests, especially in the special operation and Africa.
The first of these two is self-explanatory and well-known, while the second was elaborated on here, here, and here. In brief, it concerns the role that Wagner plays in advancing Russia’s “Democratic Security”-driven engagement with Africa, which can be simplified as the tactics and strategies that it applies in helping its partners defend themselves from (mostly Western-emanating) Hybrid War threats. To that end, a combination of informational, logistical, technical, and training support is provided.
Considering that President Putin sincerely regards most Wagner members as true Russian patriots and keenly understands how their group advances his country’s national security interests, especially in Africa, it therefore follows that he’d naturally want them to continue their service if they agree. Some management changes are required, however, in order to ensure that none of them are ever misled by demagogic anti-corruption rhetoric again like what recently happened and almost destroyed Russia.
Instead of tasking a motley crew of media, military, and security bureaucrats with this and thus taking the risk that they might mess everything up, which could have adverse consequences for Russia’s national security interests, President Putin wisely sought to its leaders’ own views on this. Since management changes are required, it’s logical to ask those true Russian patriots at the top who are responsible for Wagner’s many successes how they’d prefer to proceed given the circumstances.
In this way, President Putin prevented the worst-case scenario of Wagner being turned into something unrecognizable and therefore a shadow of its former self in terms of its effectiveness in advancing Russia’s national security interests had the aforesaid motley crew been tasked with this. That’s not to suggest that media, military, and security bureaucrats won’t be involved in these management changes, but just that the insight of Wagner’s leaders will be taken into account when making major decisions.
To summarize: 1) Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt was real; 2) but President Putin mercifully gave him a final chance to save his life in order to avert civil war; 3) after which he pragmatically extended an olive branch to those regrettably misled Russian patriots that comprise the majority of Wagner’s members; 4) and thus gave them the opportunity to continue serving their country if they want; 5) which is why he met with their leaders in order to take their views into account when making management changes.
Wagner plays much too important of a role in advancing Russia’s national security interests in the special operation and Africa for it to be disbanded or mismanaged by a motley crew of bureaucrats who’d risk accidentally neutralizing its effectiveness while trying to bring it more fully under state control. For this reason, President Putin sought the insight of their patriotic leaders in order to make sure that it remains a formidable instrument in the Kremlin’s toolkit, which necessitated Prigozhin attending their meeting.
Organizations as vast as Wagner rarely have anyone other than their chief who knows everything about them and how it’s all connected, so he’d have to participate for this process to proceed smoothly. Prigozhin still claims to be a Russian patriot in spite of what he did and he’s obviously very personally invested in the future of his group and those within it who he’s employed, hence why President Putin expected that he’d agree to take part in this meeting about Wagner’s comprehensive restructuring.
By doing so, Prigozhin was also able to partially rehabilitate his reputation by signaling that he “meant well” so to speak but “just got carried away” by continuing to march on Moscow despite being told by President Putin earlier that morning to stop. After all, if he was an irredeemable traitor and possibly even a Western agent (and not just their “useful idiot”), then he’d never help President Putin restructure Wagner with the advice of its leadership so as to retain its effectiveness in advancing Russian interests.
The bottom line is that their meeting in the days after Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt wasn’t anything conspiratorial like some AMC influencers might clownishly claim for clout, ideological reasons, and/or to solicit donations. It was driven purely by the participants’ patriotic motivation to ensure that Wagner’s inevitable management changes are implemented without a hitch. Some employees be laid off if certain projects are canceled, but the core of the group will definitely live on, even if under a different name.
