Putin gives task of managing Ukraine volunteer fighters to ex-Prigozhin aide

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's former aide the task of overseeing volunteer fighter units in Ukraine, as per a statement issued by the Kremlin on Friday (Sep 28).

Prigozhin was killed in August in an air crash which was suspected to have been orchestrated by Putin after the failed Wagner mutiny in June.

"At the last meeting, we talked about you overseeing the formation of volunteer units that can carry out various tasks, first and foremost of course in the zone of the special military operation," the Russian president was quoted as saying to Andrei Troshev.

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The meeting, which was also attended by Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, emphasised the integration of the mercenary group's fighters into the regular military of Russia in the wake of the aborted mutiny.

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Prigozhin was killed along with nine other people when a plane, which took off from Moscow and was headed to Saint Petersburg, crashed on August 23.

As per the experts, the Wagner mutiny was the most significant challenge to the rule of Putin.

The rebellion was called off by Prigozhin after he apparently finalised a deal with the Kremlin through the mediation of Belarus, after which he faced no criminal prosecution.

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Troshev, who is a retired colonel famous by the nickname "Sedoi" (Gray-haired), hails from St Petersburg, the hometown of Putin, and is a decorated veteran of Kremlin campaigns in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Syria.

He was one of the Wagner Group's leaders in Syria for which he was put on the sanctions list of the the European Union in December 2021.

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on Ukraine-Russia war on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos

(With inputs from agencies)

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