Putin ‘offered Wagner mercenaries the option to keep operating as a single unit’

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Vladimir Putin has said he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under the same officer when he met them five days after the group’s abortive revolt last month.

In remarks to the business daily Kommersant published on Friday, the Russian president described a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29.