MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin has held Kremlin talks with Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders to discuss the armed mutiny Wagner attempted to mount against the army’s top brass, Putin’s spokesman said on Monday.
The meeting was first reported by French newspaper Liberation, which said Prigozhin had met Putin and the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and SVR Foreign Intelligence boss Sergei Naryshkin.
The meeting, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was held on June 29, five days after the aborted mutiny, which is widely regarded to have posed the most serious challenge to Putin since he came to power on the last day of 1999.
Peskov told reporters that Putin had invited 35 people to the meeting, including Prigozhin and Wagner unit commanders, and that the meeting had lasted 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.
The brief mutiny led by Prigozhin, in which Wagner fighters took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and a military headquarters building, was defused in a deal brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin, who likened the events to the turmoil which engulfed Russia in the run-up to the 1917 Russian Revolution, has since thanked his army and security services for averting chaos and civil war.
Prigozhin has said the mutiny was not aimed at overthrowing the government but at “bringing to justice” the army and defense chiefs for what he called their blunders and unprofessional actions in Ukraine.
Putin has so far kept Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in place, judging by appearances by both men on state TV — rejecting Prigozhin’s appeals to sack them.
Prigozhin was meant to leave for Belarus under the terms of the deal that ended the mutiny. But Lukashenko said last week that Prigozhin was back in Russia and that Wagner fighters had not yet taken up an offer to relocate to Belarus, raising questions about the implementation of the agreement.
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Putin held post-mutiny talks with Wagner leader Prigozhin and his fighters – Kremlin
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Putin held post-mutiny talks with Wagner leader Prigozhin and his fighters – Kremlin
- The meeting was held on June 29, five days after the aborted mutiny
- Vladmir Putin had invited 35 people to the meeting, including Prigozhin and Wagner unit commanders
Budget impasse shuts down US Department of Homeland Security
- Thousands of government workers, from airport security agents to disaster relief officials, will either be furloughed or forced to work without pay
WASHINGTON: The Department of Homeland Security entered a partial shutdown Saturday as US lawmakers fight over funding the agency overseeing much of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Thousands of government workers, from airport security agents to disaster relief officials, will either be furloughed or forced to work without pay until funding is agreed upon by Congress.
At the center of the budget dispute is the department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose agents killed two US citizens amid sweeping raids and mass protests in Minneapolis.
Democrats oppose any new funding for DHS until major changes are implemented over how ICE conducts its operations.
In particular, they have demanded curtailed patrols, a ban on ICE agents wearing face masks during operations and the requirement that they obtain a judicial warrant to enter private property.
“Donald Trump and Republicans have decided that they have zero interest in getting ICE under control,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday.
“Dramatic changes are needed,” Jeffries told a news conference. “Absent that, Republicans have decided to shut down parts of the federal government.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put the blame on the opposition, telling Fox News that “Democrats are barreling our government toward another shutdown for political and partisan reasons.”
But while DHS faces a shutdown, ICE itself will remain operational, under funds approved in last year’s government spending bill.
Senator John Fetterman pushed against his fellow Democrats, saying: “This shutdown literally has zero impact on ICE.”
The primary impact would land on other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which oversees emergency response to natural disasters.
The Transportation Security Administration, which runs airport safety, warned on X that a prolonged shutdown could result in longer wait times and canceled flights.
Negotiations stalled
The shutdown would be the third of Trump’s second term, including a record 43-day government closure last October and November.
The government just reopened from a smaller, four-day partial shutdown earlier this month, also over DHS funding.
Even if all 53 Republican senators vote to fund DHS, Senate rules require support from 60 of the body’s 100 members to advance the budget bill, meaning several Democrats would need to get on board.
In response to the Democrats’ demands, the White House said it was ready to negotiate over immigration enforcement policy.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune called it “an extremely serious offer,” but warned Democrats are “never going to get their full wish list.”
Some concessions were made during the previous shutdown amid Democratic pressure and national outcry after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three, and Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked with military veterans, in Minneapolis last month.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said federal agents in the city would wear body cameras “effective immediately” in a move that would be later “expanded nationwide.”
The Senate went into recess for a week starting Thursday, but senators could be called back to Washington in case of a rapid leap in negotiations.
For the moment, however, talks between the White House and Democrats appear to be at a standstill.
Thousands of government workers, from airport security agents to disaster relief officials, will either be furloughed or forced to work without pay until funding is agreed upon by Congress.
At the center of the budget dispute is the department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose agents killed two US citizens amid sweeping raids and mass protests in Minneapolis.
Democrats oppose any new funding for DHS until major changes are implemented over how ICE conducts its operations.
In particular, they have demanded curtailed patrols, a ban on ICE agents wearing face masks during operations and the requirement that they obtain a judicial warrant to enter private property.
“Donald Trump and Republicans have decided that they have zero interest in getting ICE under control,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday.
“Dramatic changes are needed,” Jeffries told a news conference. “Absent that, Republicans have decided to shut down parts of the federal government.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put the blame on the opposition, telling Fox News that “Democrats are barreling our government toward another shutdown for political and partisan reasons.”
But while DHS faces a shutdown, ICE itself will remain operational, under funds approved in last year’s government spending bill.
Senator John Fetterman pushed against his fellow Democrats, saying: “This shutdown literally has zero impact on ICE.”
The primary impact would land on other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which oversees emergency response to natural disasters.
The Transportation Security Administration, which runs airport safety, warned on X that a prolonged shutdown could result in longer wait times and canceled flights.
Negotiations stalled
The shutdown would be the third of Trump’s second term, including a record 43-day government closure last October and November.
The government just reopened from a smaller, four-day partial shutdown earlier this month, also over DHS funding.
Even if all 53 Republican senators vote to fund DHS, Senate rules require support from 60 of the body’s 100 members to advance the budget bill, meaning several Democrats would need to get on board.
In response to the Democrats’ demands, the White House said it was ready to negotiate over immigration enforcement policy.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune called it “an extremely serious offer,” but warned Democrats are “never going to get their full wish list.”
Some concessions were made during the previous shutdown amid Democratic pressure and national outcry after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three, and Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked with military veterans, in Minneapolis last month.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said federal agents in the city would wear body cameras “effective immediately” in a move that would be later “expanded nationwide.”
The Senate went into recess for a week starting Thursday, but senators could be called back to Washington in case of a rapid leap in negotiations.
For the moment, however, talks between the White House and Democrats appear to be at a standstill.
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