Putin meets with soldiers to quell armed rebellion, revealing that Wagner is paid 86 billion rubles a year.

　　On the 27th, Putin met with representatives of powerful departments involved in quelling the Wagner incident and thanked them for "containing the civil war". He also disclosed that the Russian government paid more than 86 billion rubles (about 1 billion US dollars) to Wagner Group in the past year. Belarusian President alexander lukashenko, who mediated the incident, welcomed Wagner Group to "settle in" and said that this private military enterprise would bring practical experience to Belarus.

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　　On the same day, Putin received about 2,500 representatives from powerful departments such as the Ministry of National Defense, the Federal Security Service, the National Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs who participated in the counter-insurgency in the church square in the Kremlin, and delivered a live televised speech, thanking them for their courage, loyalty and loyalty to the Russian people. "You saved our motherland from turmoil and actually contained the civil war." Putin said that the rapid and accurate deployment of powerful departments has brought extremely dangerous situations under control, avoided civilian casualties, and let rebel participants see that "the army and the people are not on their side."

　　"You saved our motherland from turmoil and actually contained the civil war." Putin said that the rapid and accurate deployment of powerful departments has brought extremely dangerous situations under control, avoided civilian casualties, and let rebel participants see that "the army and the people are not on their side." Putin and the whole audience observed a minute’s silence for the Russian crew killed by Wagner.

　　disclose

　　In his speech, Putin said that the salary of the entire Wagner Group was completely guaranteed by the state, and the funds came from the Ministry of National Defense and the state budget. From May 2022 to May 2023, the government paid 86.262 billion rubles to Wagner Group for the payment of wages and bonuses.

　　According to Putin, although Wagner’s funds came from the state financial allocation, Prigozhin, as the owner of this private military enterprise, made huge profits from the military-related business. In the past year, "he made 80 billion rubles (about 940 million US dollars) by supplying food and catering services to the military". Putin said that law enforcement agencies will investigate where the money paid to Wagner Group and Prigozhin went.

　　Prigozhin has repeatedly pointed out that the military competed with Wagner Group for credit, embezzled ammunition supplies to Wagner, criticized the Russian regular army for its ineffective actions in Ukraine, and pointed its finger at shoigu and gerasimov. According to him, Wagner’s motorcade marched to Moscow to "protest", not to overthrow the federal government.

　　Xiajia

　　Belarusian President Lukashenko confirmed on the 27th that Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on the same day. Lukashenko also said that Belarus will not organize the construction of a camp for Wagner, but will help provide accommodation if necessary. In addition, there will be no recruitment point for Wagner organization in Belarus.

　　Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder and commander of Wagner Group, ordered his troops to March into Rostov-on-Don, the capital of Rostov State, on the evening of 23rd, and announced on 24th that he would occupy the headquarters of the southern Russian military region there, that is, the command center for special military operations against Ukraine without bloodshed. Prigozhin asked the Russian Federal Government to dismiss Defense Minister Sergei shoigu and Russian Chief of Staff Valery gerasimov, and Wagner’s motorcade quickly marched to Moscow.

　　On the evening of 24th, Prigozhin accepted the mediation of Belarusian President Lukashenko and agreed to avoid bloodshed. The Kremlin guaranteed that Prigozhin could go to Belarus and would withdraw his criminal case. Wagner turned around and returned to the field camp, and the relevant armed personnel were evacuated from Rostov-on-Don. The crisis was finally resolved in less than 24 hours.

　　Russian Presidential Press Secretary dmitry Peskov said that Putin spoke highly of Lukashenko’s efforts to mediate the Wagner incident. Lukashenko told Belarusian official media earlier that day that no one was a hero in this attempted rebellion. In his view, the Wagner Group and the Russian military have long been at odds. "We didn’t deal with this situation in time, and thought that the contradiction would be resolved automatically, but in fact it won’t … …”